NASA reports that a massive asteroid, comparable in size to the Empire State Building, will come remarkably close to Earth today; find out more information.
NASA and other space agencies have created a collection of space and ground-based telescopes to detect and monitor asteroids, which are constantly bombarding our planet. Utilizing their advanced telescopes, the US space agency has now provided information on a massive asteroid that is projected to come close to Earth today, December 20. This asteroid’s orbit will bring it in close proximity to our planet, a phenomenon referred to as a “Close Approach” by NASA. Learn more about this upcoming encounter between Earth and an asteroid comparable in size to the Empire State Building.
Asteroid 2008 EV5: Details
NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) has named the asteroid as Asteroid 2008 EV5, or 341843. It has attracted the interest of astronomers and NASA experts due to its enormous size. According to NASA, the asteroid is estimated to be about 1,100 feet wide, comparable in size to the famous Empire State Building! When asteroid 2008 EV5 hits a planet, it could cause massive destruction, especially if it were to land in a densely populated area.
Asteroid 2008 EV5 is scheduled to make its closest approach to Earth today, December 20, at a distance of 6.3 million kilometers, according to the space agency. While this distance may seem considerable, it is relatively small in astronomical terms given the asteroid’s massive size. Asteroid 2008 EV5 is already moving towards the earth in an orbit at a dizzying speed of 19243 kilometers per hour!
It has been added to NASA’s close approach list and has also been declared a potentially hazardous asteroid due to its close approach distance and enormous size.
It belongs to the group of Aten asteroids, which are Earth-crossing Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) with semi-major axes smaller than Earth’s. They are named after the asteroid 2062 Ate, and the first of their kind was discovered by American astronomer Eleanor Helin at the Palomar Observatory on January 7, 1976.
