Massive Asteroid About the Size of 69 American Alligators Will Pass by Earth Tuesday, NASA Warns

Another huge space rock is heading our way today. According to a new report, the massive asteroid will safely pass by Earth.

Massive Asteroid Is Approaching Earth

A supermassive asteroid about the size of almost 69 American alligators will be flying close by our planet Tuesday based on NASA's asteroid tracker, The Jerusalem Post reported.

The asteroid in question is named 2023 CM, according to the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The outlet noted that the metric used is the total length and not a specific part of the gator's body.

The space rock has an estimated diameter of 320 meters. Hindustan Times added that the asteroid is 590 feet wide. The Jerusalem Post added that the mass of gators could weigh around 31, 050 kilograms and the odds of 2023 CM being heavier than that is high.

NASA JPL estimates the asteroid will fly around 4 million kilometers away from the Earth. Although the distance is a bit close on a cosmic level, the moon is still much closer, on average 384,000 kilometers away from our planet.

Fortunately, it won't hit our planet. However, if it does, it could ruin a continent, flatten a structure, and trigger earthquakes, tectonic shifts, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and even forest fires.

Davidson Institute of Science, the educational arm of Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science, previously said that if an asteroid 140 meters in diameter hit Earth it would have over a thousands times the energy and power of the nuclear bomb dropped in Hiroshima in 1945.

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Olympic-Size Asteroid May Collide With Earth

While Earth is safe from 2023 CM asteroid that will be making a flyby today, another huge space rock is heading toward our planet and it could collide with Earth in 2046.

In a previous report from Science Times, the space rock, dubbed 2023 DW, was first spotted on Feb. 27. It has an estimated diameter of 165 feet, which is equivalent to an Olympic-size swimming pool's length.

Although it may not end the life on this planet, a collision is possible and may significantly damage the region where it will hit.

Based on the projections, the asteroid will make a close approach toward Earth by Feb. 14, 2026. There is 1-in-625 chance of collision. The experts are still doing consistent recalculations as it will take several weeks of data to reduce uncertainties and make reliable predictions about their orbits years into the future.

Orbit analysts will continue to monitor 2023 DW and will update predictions as more data comes in.

NASA's DART Mission might be helpful in safeguarding the planet from potentially hazardous space rocks like 2023 DW. Four studies previously confirmed it could successfully change a small asteroid's trajectory by crashing a craft into it. The same approach might be used to change the course of 2023 DW to avoid a collision.