One of the two skyscraper-size asteroids is close to Earth on Friday and the other on Saturday.
The asteroid will fly by at 7 pm. According to NASA, it flew at an estimated 34,560 mph on Friday.
It is estimated that the asteroid is about as wide as a 40 story building. More than seven times the average distance between Earth and the moon will be missed by the asteroid, which will pass close to Earth. The next space rock to make a close approach to Earth will be in January of 2028.
Why are comets and asteroids so strange?
A bigger asteroid will skim past our planet on Saturday at a greater distance from Earth. About 18 times the average distance between Earth and the moon, the asteroid is 600 feet across and will pass by about 620,000 miles from Earth.
The space rock is going to travel at a rate of 21,168 km/h when it is near Earth. The time is 23:37GMT.
The average distance between Earth and the moon is 23%, but the close encounters are much closer.
Thousands of objects like these are closely monitored by NASA and other agencies. Even if an asteroid's trajectory puts it millions of miles from our planet, there is an extremely slim chance that the asteroid's path could cause it to collide with a planet.
Space agencies are very serious about planetary defense. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test will slam into the asteroid Dimorphos in the fall of 2022. The collision won't destroy the asteroid, but it may change the space rock's path slightly. Should a future asteroid pose an imminent danger to our planet, the mission will test the viability of asteroid defense.
It was originally published on Live Science
All Rights Reserved © 2024
