Skyscraper-sized asteroid to pass within 1.7m miles of Earth
Nasa says it will be a harmless flyby by the giant rock, one of several near-Earth objects slated to swing by the planet this week.
An asteroid as big as a skyscraper will pass within 1.7m miles (2.7mkm) of Earth on Friday.
Don’t worry: there’s no chance of it hitting us since it will miss our planet by seven times the distance from the Earth to the moon.
Nasa’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies estimates the space rock is between 690 and 1,575 feet (210 and 480 meters) across. That means the asteroid could be similar in size to New York City’s Empire State Building or Chicago’s Willis Tower.
Discovered in 2008, the asteroid is designated as 2008 OS7. It won’t be back our way again until 2032, but that will be a much more distant encounter, staying 45m miles away.
The harmless flyby is one of several encounters this week. Three much smaller asteroids also will harmlessly buzz the Earth on Friday, no more than tens of yards across, with another two on Saturday. On Sunday, an asteroid roughly half the size of 2008 0S7 will swing by, staying 4.5m miles away.
READ at https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/feb/01/asteroid-near-earth-nasa
