Massive asteroids are heading towards Earth in the coming days, including an asteroid the size of the Empire State Building. This is reported by the US news portal "ABC News", citing data from the NASA "Center for Near Earth Objects Studies" (CNEO).
Asteroids scrape astronomically close to Earth
Accordingly, several massive asteroids are expected near Earth in the coming week. Two asteroids are expected to pass near our planet next Saturday. They will be followed by other space objects in the days to come. Asteroid 2021 SM3 is projected for Friday, measuring up to 160.2 meters in diameter - larger than the largest of the Giza pyramids in Egypt. It is expected to pass Earth at a distance of about 3.5 million miles, according to CNEOS calculations.
Asteroid news up-to-date: NASA gives the all-clear
Near-Earth objects are defined by NASA as "comets and asteroids thrown into orbit by the gravitational pull of nearby planets." These orbits allow them to "enter the neighborhood of Earth."
Mega chunks on a crash course: there is no risk of collisions
But although these asteroids pass relatively close to Earth, according to CNEO experts, they are not a cause for concern because they are too far away to cause any harm to our planet. "Astronomically, they're close to Earth. But humanly, they're millions of miles away," Paul Chodas, director of CNEOS at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, told ABC News. The center observes near-Earth objects, so astronomers know which asteroids are approaching where and when.
Empire State Building-sized mega asteroid: no threat to Earth
One of the closest asteroids to approach Earth is Asteroid 2021 TJ15, which will pass Earth on Saturday at the same distance as the Moon's distance from Earth (384,400 km). "This asteroid is 5.6 to 13 meters in diameter. It's a tiny asteroid coming in about the moon's distance. It's a long, long way away, it can't hit Earth, there's no chance of it ' Chodas reassured ABC News.
Asteroid 2004 UE is up to 380 meters tall - almost as tall as the Empire State Building in New York City. The asteroid will scrape by Earth on November 13, 2021 at a distance of about 2.6 million miles.
The asteroids are discovered by observatories, cameras, telescopes, and asteroid surveys that scan the night sky for any movement. When an asteroid is spotted, the CNEOS center tracks its measurements and positions, and calculates an orbit to predict its future movements and see if there's a chance the asteroid could crash to Earth.
Astro-News update: How often do asteroids hit the earth?
According to Chodas, asteroids heading straight for Earth are rare, but not impossible. "In the last 20 years, we've had a total of four asteroids -- tiny, tiny asteroids -- seen in space, headed for Earth. They hit the atmosphere and burned up as a bright ball of fire," Chodas said. "In two cases, we predicted where they will hit and where the meteorites will be found. Expeditions went out and found the meteorites, so our math works pretty well."
Asteroid Apophis: Largest asteroid near Earth in 2021
One of the most prominent meteorites was the Chelyabinsk meteorite in Russia in February 2013. "It was the largest observed impact we've had recently," says Chodas. For that year, asteroid 2001 FO32 was the largest asteroid to pass Earth. He was also called "Apophis" ("God of Chaos") and was estimated by NASA to be 335 meters tall. According to Michael Zolensky, an Astromaterials curator and researcher at NASA, asteroids are "basically remnants of planet formation."
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