NASA's Asteroid Watch Widget, which tracks asteroids and comets that will make relatively close approaches to Earth, said that a 1,100 foot or a stadium-sized asteroid would pass by Earth on June 6, Saturday.
Named Asteroid 163348 or 2002 NN4, the asteroid is 735 meters in diameter and will pass at a safe distance about 3.1 million miles at a speed of 20,000 miles per hour.
Since the asteroid is larger than 492 feet and traveling 4.6 million miles of the Earth, the space agency classifies the asteroid as a "potentially hazardous object." But not to worry since it will pass by at a safe distance.
There are about 20,000 asteroid flybys that happen each year, though most of them pass by unnoticed.
Three Giant Asteroids to Zip Past Earth in June
Asteroid 2002 NN4 is among the three giant asteroids that will pass by Earth this month. Though it is large, there is nothing to worry about as the distance at which it will approach Earth is within a safe limit. Scientists estimate that the closest it can come to Earth will be at a distance of over 13 times the average distance of the Earth and Moon.
Then on June 8, Monday, Asteroid 2013 XA22 will be significantly closer than the 2002 NN4 coming at 1.8 million miles of Earth. It has a peak diameter of 160 meters, though it is smaller compared to asteroid 2002 NN4.
The last to pass by the Earth this month will happen on June 24 at 6:44 AM UTC and is estimated to fly by at 2.3 million miles from Earth. Its peak size is 310 meters in diameter, with a relative velocity of 28,800 miles per hour. It will be the closest to come to Earth during this month among the three large asteroids.
Large Asteroids Passed by Earth in History
On April 16, 2018, a football-sized asteroid named 2018 GE3 buzzed by Earth, reports Fox News. Its estimated diameter is 157 to 361 feet, about three to six times the diameter of the space rock that penetrated the skies over Chelyabinsk, Russia, in February 2013. That injured 1,500 people due to the flying broken glass.
If ever asteroid 2018 GE3 entered the Earth's atmosphere, a significant part of it would have disintegrated because of the air's friction. However, with its size, it could reach the Earth's surface. It may cause regional damage, depending on various factors, including the asteroid's composition, speed, entry angle, and location of impact.
Then in 2019, another football-sized asteroid flew by Earth at more than 30,000 miles per hour. It is known as the Near-Earth Object 2013 MD8 which size is between 126 feet to 282 feet long. According to NASA, the space rock passed by Earth at 12:55 PM EST at a speed of 30, 418 miles per hour.
Two years before 2013 MD8's arrival, a skyscraper-sized asteroid named 2010 NY65 also flew past Earth at about 2 934 000 km or almost eight times the distance between Earth and the moon.
