Science
Two Giant Asteroids To Zip Past Earth On Sunday
One of the asteroid is expected to measure somewhere around 53 meters to 120 meters in diameter
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has issued a warning related to two giant-sized asteroids that will zoom past Earth on Sunday, November 25.
One of the asteroids named ‘2009 WB105’ is expected to show up at around 12.14 PM GMT. The asteroid in question is believed to measure somewhere around 53 meters to 120 meters in diameter, which could be as large as an Olympic swimming pool, and if it is of 120 meters in diameter, it could be much bigger than football grounds. It will come as close as 15 lunar distances, which is 15-times the distance from the Earth to the Moon (or about 3.7 million miles), reported IBTimes.
The smaller asteroid will approach the Earth at eight lunar distances, or almost 2 million miles. It will fly by our planet just five hours after the WB150 does.
Although there’s no danger of the asteroids hitting the Earth, the US space agency will be keenly observing its trajectory as it is a Near Earth Object (NEO). According to NASA, any space bodies like asteroid or comet on an orbital path around the Sun of around 1.3 AU or 120.8 million miles are considered a Near Earth Object. Notably, one astronomical unit equals about 92.95 million miles, which is the distance between the Earth and the Sun.
However, if an NEO travels too close to Earth and is big enough to cause significant damages to the planet, then it is termed as Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA).
Last week, on November 20, 2018, two other asteroids measuring 12 meters to 35 meters in diameter made its close approach. It is expected a total of 19 near-Earth objects will pass the Earth before January 9th alone. Thankfully, no asteroids are predicted to come within one lunar distance in the next nine years.
