NASA confirms a giant asteroid is on its way to Earth today. Does it pose any risk to our planet? Know here.
A day after a large plane small planet hurt so close to our planet, there’s a new horror going on. Right, NASA indicates that an asteroid would today come very close to Earth. In fact, quite a lot small planet flying in space and towards the Earth. NASA warned of this massive asteroid as large as a 50-story skyscraper or nearly twice the size of the Statue of Liberty. The asteroid will make the closest approach to Earth today. NASA confirmed that the asteroid will pass close to Earth on July 17. This massive space rock is called 2022 KY4. Astronomers’ eyes are tracking this asteroid to ensure that there are no deviations in its path that could bring it closer. The earthor even accident in it.
These giant rocks in space, called asteroids, often move around the Sun, but can even change their path due to the gravity of the planets and sometimes colliding with them! So does this asteroid pose any risk to Earth?
Does this Asteroid pose any risk to Earth?
Thankfully, this asteroid will slip away from Earth, but not by a large margin! According to NASA, the asteroid will come close to Earth about 3.8 million miles or 6.1 million kilometers. For a better understanding, know that this is 16 times larger than the average distance between the Earth and the moon. Well, this is still a larger distance than asteroid 2022 NF, which passed close to Earth on July 7 within just 56,000 miles, about 23% of the average distance between Earth and the moon.
Well, how big is this asteroid? NASA says asteroid 2022 KY4 is about 290 feet or 88 meters in diameter and is moving at an estimated speed of 16,900 miles per hour. For reference, the Statue of Liberty in London is 151 feet tall. That is to say, this giant asteroid is even much bigger than the Statue of Liberty! NASA mentions that this is not the first time this space rock has come closest to Earth. Before that, asteroid 2022 KY4 made the closest approach to our planet, the last time in 1959 and 1948. According to the model, it will not approach our planet until May 2048.
