Asteroids flying close to Earth can instill fear and panic in our brains, as they can result in major damage to the planet or mass extinction. An asteroid flying past our planet is not an uncommon phenomenon, and it will be happening again today.
According to the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory's asteroid database browser, an asteroid, which is twice the size of the majestic Empire State Building in New York, will zoom past Earth today, September 9. This asteroid will be flying past our planet at a relatively close distance, as per NASA.
According to the official data, the asteroid is known as 2010 RJ53, and its diameter is almost 774 metres, which is over 2,500 feet. This asteroid will zoom past the earth today, and will potentially be flying at a distance of 366,000 kilometers from the planet, making it closer to us than the moon.
Reports suggest that there is almost no chance that the asteroid will hit Earth and cause a major impact while flying past it. NASA has also clarified that Earth will be free of any risk of an asteroid impact for the next century.
Though 2010 RJ53 poses statistically no threat to our planet, it is possible that a potential gravitation tug might act on it and change the object’s path. On the off chance that this asteroid hits the earth, it must be known that the chances of mass extinction will be very high.
2010 RJ53 is not the only asteroid that will be flying past Earth during the month of September. As per NASA, there are a total of three asteroids that will be flying close to the planet this month, one of which might even be potentially hazardous for the earth.
Apart from 2010 RJ53, an asteroid called 2021 PT will fly past Earth on September 11, 2021, and 2021 NY1 will zoom past the planet on September 22. The latter is roughly the size of a school bus and has been described as potentially hazardous by NASA.
