According to NASA, an asteroid up to three times the size of a blue whale will pass by Earth on June 6 at more than 16,000 mph.
Roughly 10 times the average distance between Earth and the moon, the asteroid is predicted to miss our planet by more than 2 million miles. The size of the space rock is between 121 and 272 feet (37 to 83 meters) wide. It's not large enough to be considered a hazard to Earth.
2021 GT2 is an Aten-class asteroid and it crosses Earth's path once every 343 days. Many of the asteroids are considered to be potentially dangerous.
There are impact craters on Earth.
The asteroid's next close approach to Earth will take place on January 26, 2034, when it will be much farther out than the upcoming approach.
asteroids and comets are considered to be near- Earth objects if they are within 1.3 units of the sun. The distance between Earth and the sun is referred to as an astronomer's unit. NASA predicts the trajectory of tens of thousands of objects over the course of hundreds of years. Astronomers don't think that any near-earth objects pose a threat.
If a near-Earth asteroid collides into another and causes a lot of debris in the solar system, scientists want to be prepared.
A large asteroid is being tested by NASA to see if it can be knocked off course by a rocket. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test will slam into the Dimorphos asteroid in the fall of 2022. The collision will not destroy the asteroid, but it may change the rock's path slightly.
It was originally published on Live Science
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