NASA alert as TWO asteroids to make ‘close approach’ to Earth on Sunday – within five hours of each other
The largest of the two objects could be longer than a professional-sized football pitch
TWO asteroids are set to drift uncomfortably close to the Earth on Sunday, with the pair of objects passing the planet within five hours of each other.
The largest of the asteroids is estimated to have a diameter as long as 120 metres, making it bigger than most football pitches.
Asteroids – or "near-Earth objects" (as NASA likes to call them) – pass the Earth on a regular basis, with their frequency placing them somewhere between weekly and daily occurrences.
It was only a couple of weeks ago that three asteroids hurtled past the Earth in quick succession, and this week there will be something like a replay of this event, as two new objects do the rounds.
What's exciting this time around, however, is that the largest (sexily named "2009 WB105") has an estimated diameter of between 53 and 120 metres, so even at its smallest possible size it will still be bigger than an Olympic swimming pool.
It will also be faster than the three asteroids from a fortnight ago, travelling at 18.88 kilometres per second, or 64,800 kilometres per hour (about 40,000 miles per hour).
But as fearsome as this larger asteroid sounds, there won't actually be any danger of it hitting the Earth.
At around 12.14 in the afternoon, 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).
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)
And at about 5.24pm, the smaller asteroid will approach the Earth at eight lunar distances, or almost 2 million miles.
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So even if both asteroids will come relatively close to our planet in astronomical terms, we'll still be safe from some kind of Deep Impact-style scenario.
That said, as NASA's Close Approach Data makes clear, we'll witness a total of 19 near-Earth objects before January 9th alone, meaning that it could be only a matter of time before our planet collides with another celestial body.
Do you think it's only a matter of time before a big asteroid hits the Earth? Let us know in the comments.
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