NASA Warns Asteroid Is Headed Close To Earth

A big asteroid compared to the height of the Eiffel Tower is reported by NASA to be headed towards Earth; the space rock is three times the size of a football pitch and is classed as a “potentially hazardous asteroid”. NASA’s space monitors have stated that the asteroid is set to pass Earth at the speed of up to 4,000mph on the 11^th of December 2021 with an impact that is potentially destructive.

The distance between the asteroid and planet Earth will be about 2.4 million miles away, which is ten times the distance between Earth and the Moon, which is 385,000 kilometres away. Scientists have called the asteroid 4660 Nereus, or 1982 DB; it is in the shape of an egg and is the size of the famous Paris monument, the Eiffel Tower.

According to NASA The asteroid is stated to orbit the Sun every 664 days, and it is due to pass again in March 2031, and then in November 2050. According to NASA experts, the nearest it will travel to Earth will be in February 2060, when it will be 750,000 miles away. With a prediction to return another 12 times in the next 175 years, it is expected to have even more closer encounters with Earth.

Just last month in October, an asteroid with a size of the Golden Gate Bridge passed by earth at a minimum distance of around two million miles from Earth, so these asteroid passing are no uncommon event; however, it is important to keep up to date with current news in case of any safety measures the public may have to take one day, as there has been a 2013 asteroid case where it entered the Earth’s atmosphere and exploded in the sky causing harm to 1,000 people in Russia.

NASA is constantly improving their equipment, strategies, and methods to record better information and take necessary precautions required for each event; therefore, if you are curios about the state of the planet system follow NASA on Twitter and keeping up to date with the latest NASA news.