Nasa says huge asteroid size of London Eye will skim past Earth next week at 24,000mph
A HUGE asteroid is set to make a close approach to Earth next week.
According to Nasa, the huge space rock will be travelling at 24,000 miles per hour.
Asteroid 2020 QL2 has an estimated size of between 53 - 120 metres (174 - 393.7 feet) in diameter.
That means it could be almost as big as the London Eye, which is around 135 metres tall.
Nasa expects the space rock to fly past Earth at around 16:50 BST on September 14.
That's 11:50 for anyone in Eastern Time.
Asteroid 2020 QL2 should be around 4.2 million miles away from our planet during its fly past.
In the grand scheme of space this isn't a large distance at all, so Nasa has still flagged it as a "close approach".
Any fast moving space object that comes within around 4.65 million miles is considered to be "potentially hazardous" by cautious space organisations.
There's no need to panic though as the chances of the asteroid hitting us are extremely low.
That's just as well because it will be travelling about 11.5 times faster than a bullet and it's whopping size could do some impact damage.
Nasa does have some plans if an asteroid was heading for Earth.
It previously said: "One of the techniques suggested for deflecting an asteroid includes nuclear fusion weapons set off above the surface to slightly change the asteroid’s velocity without fracturing it.
"High speed neutrons from the explosion would irradiate a shell of material on the surface of the asteroid facing the explosion.
"The material in this surface shell would then expand and blow off, thus producing a recoil upon the asteroid itself.
"A very modest velocity change in the asteroid’s motion (only a few millimeters per second), acting over several years, can cause the asteroid to miss the Earth entirely.
"However, the trick is to gently nudge the asteroid out of harm’s way and not to blow it up.
"This latter option, though popular in the movies, only creates a bigger problem when all the pieces encounter the Earth."
What's the difference between an asteroid, meteor and comet?
Here's what you need to know, according to Nasa...
- Asteroid: An asteroid is a small rocky body that orbits the Sun. Most are found in the asteroid belt (between Mars and Jupiter) but they can be found anywhere (including in a path that can impact Earth)
- Meteoroid: When two asteroids hit each other, the small chunks that break off are called meteoroids
- Meteor: If a meteoroid enters the Earth's atmosphere, it begins to vapourise and then becomes a meteor. On Earth, it'll look like a streak of light in the sky, because the rock is burning up
- Meteorite: If a meteoroid doesn't vapourise completely and survives the trip through Earth's atmosphere, it can land on the Earth. At that point, it becomes a meteorite
- Comet: Like asteroids, a comet orbits the Sun. However rather than being made mostly of rock, a comet contains lots of ice and gas, which can result in amazing tails forming behind them (thanks to the ice and dust vapourising)
In other space news, Nasa has revealed an amazing snapshot of a supernova blast wave.
SpaceX successfully completed a second 'hop' test for its Starship rocket prototype.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
And, wormholes that let humans travel through space and time could be possible, scientists have proposed.
What are your thoughts on this huge asteroid? Let us know in the comments...
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online Tech & Science team? Email us at tech@the-sun.co.uk