A huge asteroid as large as the Washington Monument is due to pass Earth next week, making its closest approach in ten years.
Massive Asteroid's Near-Earth Flyby
According to NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies, a massive asteroid is set to whiz past the Earth on June 29 at a distance of 181,300 miles (291,774 kilometers). This means that it may pass our planet around 20% closer than the 238,900-mile (384,472-kilometer) orbit of the Moon.
Astronomers estimate it to be between 394 to 885 feet (120 to 270 meters) in diameter. For comparison, the Washington Monument is 555 feet (169 meters) tall while the Eiffel Tower is 1,083 feet (330 meters) tall.
Named 2024 MK, the asteroid is currently in the constellation of Centaurus, located at a distance of 3,750,933 miles (6,036,541 kilometers) from Earth, equivalent to 0.040352 astronomical units. At this distance, it takes light 20.1357 seconds to travel from asteroid 2024 MK to the Earth.
As of today, the asteroid can be observed below the horizon from Greenwich, UK. Given its current magnitude of 16.85, it is visible only through long exposure photography. Its flyby next week will be best observed in the southern hemisphere before the closest approach, then it will be seen in the northern skies.
Scientists expect that asteroid 2024 MK will travel at a speed of 20,960 miles per hour (9.37 kilometers per second). For comparison, the speed of sound on Earth is 767 miles per hour (0.34 kilometers per second).
NASA reassures that 2024 MK is not likely to hit Earth. Meanwhile, this space rock is predicted to hit Earth in the year 2116 with 0.00000095 chance.
How Dangerous Can an Asteroid Be?
Asteroids are considered leftover building blocks, which never developed into planets at the early stage of the Solar System. They are currently located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, but they may sometimes change course after being pulled from their orbit by Jupiter's gravity.
These space rocks can become near-Earth objects (NEOs), if they come within 1.3 astronomical units of the Sun. For reference, one astronomical unit is the distance between the Earth and the Sun, measured at 93 million miles (150 million kilometers).
So far, there are around 31,000 NEO asteroids in the Solar System that we know of so far. Some of them are classified as potentially hazardous asteroids or potentially hazardous objects if they come within 4.6 million miles (7.4 million kilometers) of Earth and measure at least 460 feet (140 meters) in diameter. According to Svetla Ben-Itzhak from Johns Hopkins University, a cosmic body this size can destroy an entire city and cause extreme regional devastation.
An asteroid measuring 330-650 feet (100-200 meters) in diameter has the potential to cause a regional disaster by taking out a small country, with the global consequences in terms of the global economy. Meanwhile, larger objects measuring more than 0.62 miles (1 kilometer) wide can bring massive global catastrophe and even cause mass extinction.
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