A giant asteroid is headed for Earth today, NASA has confirmed. Does it pose any risk to our planet? Find out here.
A day after an asteroid the size of an airplane hurtled very close to our planet, another horror is approaching. Yes, NASA says an asteroid will come extremely close to Earth today. In fact, quite a few asteroids are flying through space and headed for Earth. NASA has warned about this huge asteroid, which is as big as a 50-story skyscraper or almost twice the size of the Statue of Liberty. The asteroid will make its closest approach to Earth today. NASA has confirmed that the asteroid will pass close to Earth on July 17. This huge space rock is known as 2022 KY4. Astronomers have their eyes on this asteroid to make sure there is no deviation in its path that could bring it even closer to Earth or even crash into it.
These giant rocks in space, known as asteroids, usually travel around the Sun, but they can even change their path due to the gravitational pull of the planets and sometimes even collide with them! So, does this asteroid pose a risk to Earth?
Will this asteroid pose a risk to Earth?
Fortunately, this asteroid will miss Earth, but not by a wide margin! According to NASA, this asteroid will come within about 3.8 million miles or 6.1 million kilometers of Earth. For better understanding, know that this is more than 16 times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon. Well, that’s still a greater distance than asteroid 2022 NF, which passed close to Earth on July 7 within just 56,000 miles, about 23 percent of the average distance between the Earth and the Moon.
So how big is this asteroid? NASA says asteroid 2022 KY4 is about 290 feet, or 88 meters, in diameter and moving at an estimated speed of 16,900 miles per hour. For reference, the Statue of Liberty in London is 151 feet tall. This means that this massive asteroid is even much bigger than the Statue of Liberty! NASA mentioned that this is not the first time this space rock will come closest to Earth. Asteroid 2022 KY4 previously made its closest approach to our planet, most recently in 1959 and 1948. According to the model, it will not make another close approach to our planet until May 2048.
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