Brace yourselves because a massive asteroid is heading towards us. But no, it’s not expected to make an impact with Earth, thankfully.
According to the latest reports, a massive asteroid is racing towards the Earth at nearly 58,250mph (93,744kmh). The space rock is expected to fly over our planet next week, according to NASA’s asteroid trackers.
Heading towards Earth on a “Close Approach” trajectory
NASA calls the rock, Asteroid 2019 JB1 and this big boy is headed towards the Earth on a “Close Approach” trajectory.
Express.co.uk writes that NASA’s asteroid trackers “have calculated a close flyby in the early morning hours of Monday, May 20.”
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California reported that Asteroid JB1 will fly past our planet around 4.23am BST (3.23am UTC).
The asteroid is set to reach mindblowing speeds
They also noted that when the rock comes closer to the Earth, it will reach mindblowing speeds of around 26.04km per second or 58,349.8mph.
The asteroid is reportedly an Apollo-type NEO which stands for Near-Earth Object.
You may recall that NEOs are asteroids and comets that are in the orbit of the Sun at a distance of 1.3 au (astronomical units.)
Express.co.uk refreshes our memory and says that one astronomical unit measures about 93 million miles (149.6 million km) – this is the distance between the Earth and the Sun.
“NASA’s JPL estimates JB1 measures somewhere in the range of 557.7ft to 1,279.5ft (170m to 390m) across,” the online publication writes.
The magazine also tries to make readers understand better the size of this space rock that’s just about to get past us: it’s bigger than 45 London double-decker buses and 200 times longer than a Queen size bed.
What if…?
We bet you’re wondering what would happen if the asteroid were to hit our planet.
Well, is such a tragedy were to strike upon us, the force of the impact could be situated at deadly levels.
The online magazine cites NASA which stated: “If a rocky meteoroid larger than 25m but smaller than one kilometer – a little more than 1/2 miles – were to hit Earth, it would likely cause local damage to the impact area.”
The space agency also said that anything larger than 1-2 kilometers would have wordlwide effects.
I have been blogging and posting articles for over eight years, but my passion for writing dates back in 2000. I am especially enthusiastic about technology, science, and health-related issues. When I’m not researching and writing the latest news, I’m either watching sci-fi and horror movies or checking out places worth visiting and building deep memories for later in life. I believe in empathy and continually improving myself.