[Image: SpaceX / X] Astronomers were left red-faced after announcing the discovery of a new near-Earth asteroid, only to discover that the alleged space rock was the wreckage of Elon Musk’s cherry-red Tesla Roadster and its spacesuit-clad driver “Starman.” Initially dubbed 2018 CN41, the new near-earth object was first spotted by an amateur astronomer before the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center (MPC) added it to their list of things to keep an eye on. However, just 17 hours later, the MPC released an editorial notice retracting the discovery after the citizen scientists realised they had made a mistake. This is not the asteroid you’re looking for Starman launched seven years ago today on Falcon Heavy’s first mission and recently cruised back by Earth in late January pic.twitter.com/lK9jEQSZUv