LAST FRIDAY, AN asteroid came incredibly close to earth.

Well, it missed by about 27,000 kilometres but in outer-space terms, that’s a short trip down to the shops.

Scary as it might have been, it was also pretty beautiful – for those who could see it. Unfortunately for us mere humans though, it was invisible to the naked eye.

So, the spectacle was lost on us until photographer Colin Legg stepped in. The Australian captured a number of images and complied this rather compelling time-lapse right at the time of closest approach (just before 3.24pm Perth time).

According to Legg, “Just after camera rolling, a beautiful meteor burned across the sky, and amazingly, passed right through my camera’s field of view, lingering while the debris train swept up and out of view. In addition, the sky was also very busy swarming with countless man made satellites. The asteroid is the bright object at left moving down the screen.”

Set it to full screen for the full effect:

(Credit: Colin Legg)

The scene was captured at 50 mm, iso 8000, f/2.2, 8 second shutter, 9 second intervals. For more see Colin Legg Photography.

LIVE: NASA coverage of a giant asteroid sweeping past Earth