NASA is keeping a close eye on a massive asteroid heading into the weekend, according to a report by the UK’s Daily Star.
The giant asteroid, which is estimated to be between 820 and 1,870 feet, may be taller than the Empire State Building, which is 1,453 feet. It is set to skim Earth’s orbit this week, the report said.
“NASA has classed the asteroid as an Aten asteroid, which is a space rock following a very wide orbit around the sun,” said the report.
How close will the asteroid come to Earth?
Dubbed 163348 (2002 NN4) by NASA, the report said the rock is expected to miss our planet by more than 3 million miles when it flies by on Saturday.
Despite its distance from Earth, NASA considers the space rock a Near Earth Object – it considers all asteroids NEOs if they approach Earth within 1.3 astronomical units.
According to NASA, a NEO is a term used to describe “comets and asteroids that have been nudged by the gravitational attraction of nearby planets into orbits that allow them to enter the Earth’s neighborhood.”
Although scientists do not think the asteroid will collide with Earth, they will keep an eye on it in case by chance it enters Earth’s atmosphere.
Will we see a return visit?
According to the report, once the asteroid has safely zoomed past Earth, NASA estimates we can next expect it to visit our planet in 2024.
Astronomers are tracking nearly 2,000 asteroids, comets and other objects which threaten our planet, the Daily Star reported.
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