NASA -- The astronomers of NASA are looking closely at an asteroid dubbed as the 2019 OU1 as it seems to be traveling at 29,000mph towards the direction of the Earth. It is estimated to be 160 meters wide and is expected to pass by the Earth on August 28, 2019. This asteroid is about the size of the Washington Monument. It belongs under the Apollo class which basically forms the majority of the Potentially Hazardous Asteroids. According to the Center for Near-Earth Objects Studies (CNEOS) of NASA this asteroid will be passing by the Earth 40 times closer than the distance of the planet Venus to Earth. That should be relatively near as Venus is the Earth's nearest neighbor.
The news about this new asteroid came after a space rock larger than the total size of the Empire State Building in New York (roughly 1,454 feet) flew past Earth at roughly 10,400 mph on August 10. That asteroid was named the 2006 QQ23 has made its closest approach to the Earth's atmosphere on Saturday at 3:23 am EDT. One British scientist has expressed his concern and said that it won't be long until an asteroid actually hits the Earth.
Dr. Iain McDonald, a researcher and scientist from Cardiff University said that it was simply "inevitable" for an asteroid to eventually hit the Earth. However, he did not specify when he thinks this was possible.
Dr. McDonald told BBC's Today during an interview, "I try not to speak about the inevitable because it would bring about a huge calamity."
"As geologists, we recognize these events throughout history and we try to think of its impacts on life on Earth through time." He further shared that as scientists, they are quite sure that it will eventually happen.
Fortunately, the astronauts and researchers of NASA have yet to discover the asteroid that could possibly hit Earth. The space agency estimates that none of their recorded asteroids pose a threat to the planet. Their search for it continues.
