Empire State Building Sized Asteroid To Zoom Past Earth

These days, NASA is monitoring the speed of an asteroid that is expected to pass Earth Saturday 6th June. NASA named it Asteroid 2002 NN4. It’s estimated to be 250-570 meters in diameter.

Empire State Building Sized Asteroid

The recent asteroid seems to be as large as the Empire State Building. According to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of NASA, the asteroid may seem daunting because of its size but it would pass Earth at a safe distance.

Empire State Building Size Asteroid
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Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

NASA further listed all the information about the asteroid on its Center for Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) website. According to NASA, several other objects are also expected to fly through space near Earth this week.

NASA has built a widget for the public so that the stargazers could keep track of the asteroids that may appear in the night sky. Through this widget, scientists keep track of any object that would approach within 4.6 million miles of the planet.

Through the widget, the asteroids’ sizes could also be estimated as it uses common Earth objects to compare the sizes. Some asteroids could be as big as houses or other planes and some are as large as stadiums.

While it is unlikely for the asteroid to hit Earth anytime soon, scientists are already taking important steps to get prepared just in case. During the 2019 conference, scientists from around the world gathered and discussed how to respond to an asteroid big enough to destroy a major city. 

The director of planetary science at NASA, Dr. Lori Glaze, stated that they need to change the speed of the asteroid a little faster or a little slower so that when it crosses the orbit of Earth, it could cross either in front of the planet or behind it.

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