According to NASA, a 1,200-feet wide gigantic asteroid is hurtling towards the Earth today, August 3. NASA has classified it as a potentially hazardous asteroid. Is there a chance of impact? Find out.
The last few days have seen asteroid activity increase exponentially. Last weekend, two massive asteroids zoomed past the Earth on consecutive days and our planet just narrowly escaped the event. And now, continuing the asteroid bombardment, NASA has confirmed that yet another asteroid will be approaching the Earth today, August 3. And this asteroid might be the most dangerous of them all. The asteroid is 1,200-feet wide, which is larger than the previous two asteroids combined. Even NASA has classified it as a potentially hazardous asteroid, realizing the threat potential it carries. So, is an asteroid strike possible? Will this large space boulder smash into the Earth? Read on to find out.
According to the NASA Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) database, the asteroid has been named as 2022 OE02. Moving at a mind-numbing speed of 72000 miles per hour, the asteroid is estimated to come as close as 3.2 million miles of Earth. The speed of the asteroid is also astonishing as most asteroids move around between 30,000-40,000 miles per hour mark. At this speed, a last moment deviation due to any unforeseeable reason would see this asteroid cover the 3.8 million miles of distance in just 52 hours. And this is why space agencies across the world are observing this space rock.
A 1,200-feet wide asteroid is speeding towards the Earth today
The date 2022 in the name of the asteroid highlights that this year is the first time scientists have been able to observe it. In fact, the asteroid eluded from the eyes of the telescopes until a few weeks back. Due to that, not enough data about the asteroid has been collected, which concerns NASA even further.
At its size, this asteroid can cause continental level of impact damage and produce enough shockwaves and tectonic waves that will impact the entire planet with earthquakes and tsunamis. However, at the moment, the space agency is confident that the asteroid will make a safe passage across the planet and there is no threat of an asteroid strike. However, things can change at the last moment, so we will have to wait till it passes our planet.
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