- The space rock, called 2008 OS7, is approximately 890 feet in diameter.
- It is scheduled to pass Earth at a distance of 1.77 million miles on Friday afternoon.
NASA has announced that a “potentially dangerous asteroid” the size of a soccer stadium is hurtling toward Earth.
The space rock, called 2008 OS7, is approximately 890 feet in diameter, making it slightly smaller than Wembley Stadium’s famous arch, which is 1,033 feet long.
It will pass Earth at a distance of 1.77 million miles on Friday at 14:41 GMT.
But before you panic, NASA warns that there is no risk of collision.
Dr. Min-jae Kim, a research fellow in the University of Warwick’s Department of Physics, said, “Although this asteroid will not enter the Earth’s atmosphere, it will still come close to the Earth, so there is no need to worry too much.”
NASA describes a potentially hazardous asteroid as an asteroid larger than approximately 460 feet (140 meters) and whose orbit approaches within 4.6 million miles (7.5 million kilometers) of Earth’s orbit around the sun. doing.
Dr. Kim said, “2008 OS7 is a very small asteroid that intersects Earth’s orbit and is classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA).”
“There are more than millions of asteroids in our solar system, of which approximately 2,350 asteroids are classified as PHAs.
“The next significant approach to Earth by PHA will be at 99942 Apophis on April 14, 2029.”
Asteroid 2008 OS7 orbits the Sun every 962 days (2.63 Earth years).
Dr. Kim continued, “Unfortunately, asteroids are typically too small to be detected with current technology and surveys, and are therefore very difficult to see with the naked eye.”
“So far, the only asteroids visible to the naked eye are Pallas and Vesta, which are about 500 kilometers in diameter.”
Four other asteroids, the size of an airplane or a house, are scheduled to pass close to Earth between now and Friday.
Sizes are 100 feet of 2024 BR3, 2024BR (63 feet); 2003 BM03 (120 feet). and 2024 BJ03 (73 feet).
Although the chances of this asteroid hitting Earth are extremely low, NASA has not ruled out the possibility of an asteroid hitting Earth in the near future.
NASA discovers about 30 new “near-Earth objects” (NEOs) every week, and at the beginning of 2019 it had discovered more than 19,000 objects in total.
However, the space agency warns that the NEO catalog is not complete and unexpected collisions could occur “at any time.”
“Experts estimate that the impact of the object that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia in 2013, which was approximately 55 feet (17 meters) in size, occurs once or twice every 100 years,” NASA said in a statement. did.
“Bigger celestial collisions (on the scale of centuries to millennia) are expected to occur much less frequently.
“However, given that the NEO catalog is currently incomplete, unforeseen consequences like the Chelyabinsk incident could occur at any time.”