NASA reveals that a building-sized asteroid will pass Earth today at a close distance
According to NASA, four asteroids flew past Earth yesterday, with the largest being Asteroid 2024 BD7, nearly 140 feet wide, comparable in size to an aircraft. Today, March 19, the US Space Agency has identified one asteroid on a trajectory towards Earth, larger than any of yesterday’s asteroids. Learn more about this asteroid, which is the size of a building, including its speed, size, and proximity to Earth.
Asteroid 2024 BD7
NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, or CNEOS, has named the incoming asteroid as Asteroid 2024 BD7. This organization is responsible for tracking celestial bodies such as comets and asteroids. Such objects that pass close to Earth are called Near-Earth Objects (NEOs).
According to NASA, asteroid 2024 BD7 will pass the planet during its closest approach at a distance of 7.2 million kilometers. It has been observed in orbit moving at a dizzying speed of about 36507 kilometers per hour! This is even faster than an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM)!
Is it dangerous?
NASA says that while this asteroid is much larger than the asteroids that passed by Earth yesterday, it does not pose a threat to life and property and is not expected to hit the surface. After studying the data, the space agency has revealed that asteroid 2024 BD7 is 440 feet across, making it almost the size of a building!
It belongs to the Apollo group of Near-Earth Asteroids, which are space rocks that pass through the Earth and whose semi-major axes are larger than the Earth’s axis. These asteroids are named after the huge 1862 Apollo asteroid discovered by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth in the 1930s.
