5 asteroids, including one as big as a skyscraper, speeding toward Earth this weekend | Technology News
Planet Earth will once again witness the passing by of several massive asteroids in the coming days. According to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, five asteroids will fly by Earth between October 26 to October 28. The largest amongst the bunch, dubbed 2020 WG measures 500ft, approximately the size of a tall building.
While WG 2020 will cross Earth from a safe on October 28 at a distance of 3,330,000 km, the almost skyscraper-sized asteroid pose no risk to our planet. Three other aeroplane-sized asteroids, named 2024 TB2, 2007 UT3 and 2016 BF1 measure 34m, 22m and 28m respectively.
On October 26, 2024, TB2 and 2007 UT3 will fly by Earth with their closest Earth approach estimated to be 7,31,000 km and 4,200,000 respectively while 2016 BF 1 will come closest to our planet on October 27 and skim by the planet at a distance of 2,460,000 km.
The smallest among the bunch is named 2024 UQ1 and measures just 10m, which is almost the size of a bus. This asteroid will make its closest approach to Earth on October 28th with a distance of just 1,48,000 km. However, owing to its small size, the asteroid won’t be posing a big risk to our planet.
Asteroids, also known as planetoids are space rocks that are orbiting our Sun. While many of these asteroids may have emerged from the formation of the solar system, during which planets lost mass billions of years ago, some come from interstellar space.
The majority of these space rocks are spotted orbiting between Mars and Jupiter, but it is not uncommon for them to fly by Earth. While most of them are pretty harmless, if Earth is hit by a massive asteroid that is nearly the size of our planet, chances are we might see widescale destruction.
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