The asteroid, dubbed 2020 JX by NASA, isn’t the only space rock that will fly near Earth in the coming days, as the agency predicts a total of four of these celestial bodies are likely to travel past our planet.
A huge asteroid is expected to skim past Earth today, 23 May, at around 19:00 GMT at a speed of 17,761 miles per hour.
The asteroid is measured at between 46 and 100 metres in diameter, about the same size as the famous Big Ben, according to the Daily Star.
Although it will fly some 4.6million miles from Earth, the asteroid belongs to the Apollo-class, which includes space rocks that cross the Earth’s orbit and are considered relatively dangerous for our planet.
NASA has branded the asteroid a Near-Earth Object, but the chances of 2020 JX colliding with our planet are extremely low.
A NEO is a term used to describe “comets and asteroids that have been nudged by the gravitational attraction of nearby planets into orbits that allow them to enter the Earth’s neighbourhood”.
Besides 2020 JX, three other asteroids are expected to travel past Earth in the coming days, and they have been dubbed by NASA as 2020 KU, 2020 JR1, and 2020 KJ. All rocks belong to the Apollo-class.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
