NASA has warned about three potentially hazardous asteroids, one of which measures a massive 140-foot in size, that are coming towards Earth. Know what NASA says.
Some asteroids surprise astronomers and come out of nowhere to hit Earth as happened just a few days ago. This asteroid was discovered just a few hours before impact. Thankfully, the undetected asteroid was too small in size to cause any serious impact and it ended up raining a few meteorites on Canada as most of it burned up in the atmosphere. However, that might not be the case every time! You must have heard tales about the infamous Chicxulub asteroid that caused massive destruction on Earth around 66 million years ago. This is the asteroid that ended the era of the dinosaurs. And that is why the fear of asteroids is constantly present even today!
Now, NASA has spotted three giant monster rocks approaching Earth today, which pose a great risk to our planet. The worrying part is that these asteroids are marked as potentially hazardous because of the uncomfortably close distance that they are expected to come to Earth. NASA explains that any asteroid that comes within 4.6 million miles or 7.5 million kilometers of Earth, or if it measures larger than about 150 meters is said to be a potentially hazardous object. Know all about these asteroids.
Upcoming asteroids today
One of these three upcoming asteroids today measures 88-foot and is named asteroid 2022 VQ. NASA’s JPL informed that it will come dangerously close, around 1.81 million miles to Earth. Moreover, it will be hurtling toward Earth at a speed of 29529 km per hour.
There is another asteroid named 2022 WO2 which is zooming towards Earth at a blistering speed of 36162 km per hour, CNEOS data mentioned. It is a 71-foot wide asteroid that will come as close as 3.63 million miles to the Earth.
Asteroid 2022 WP5, which measures a whopping 140-foot in size, is ready to make the closest approach at 3.79 million miles at a speed of 51875 km per hour.
However, to detect further danger from these asteroids, NASA is constantly keeping an active eye on them. NASA uses data from observatories and telescopes such as Pan- STARRS, the Catalina Sky Survey, and the NEOWISE telescope to analyse the danger these asteroids pose to Earth.
