A huge asteroid, about the size of a stadium and thrice the size of the Taj Mahal, is heading towards Earth at a very high speed.
The asteroid named ‘2008Go20’ will fly past the Earth on July 24.
American space agency NASA informed that the asteroid is hurtling towards the Earth at 18,000 miles an hour.
However, NASA stated that there is nothing to worry about.
The asteroid, sized about 220 meters in diameter, is to pass at a distance of 4.7 million kilometers from Earth.
As per the interactive map given by NASA, Asteroid 2008 GO20 won’t come any closer than 2,605,509 miles.
While the asteroid will safely move past Earth, its orbit close to the planet has been classified as Apollo. This classification holds the most dangerous asteroids.
As per calculation provided by NASA, though the asteroid will be very close to Earth, it will still be 0.04 au (astronomical unit) away from Earth, a distance of 3,718,232 miles.
▶️NASA has said that an asteroid named ‘2008 GO20’ is headed towards the Earth at 18,000 miles an hour, but there is nothing to worry.
▶️The asteroid will go past Earth on July 24, Read more details: https://t.co/R7juM8C1WP pic.twitter.com/h1lplRlIXh
— Hindustan Times (@htTweets) July 20, 2021
According to Nasa Joint Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which tracks asteroid movement, an asteroid is classified as a near-Earth object when its distance from our planet is less than 1.3 times the distance from Earth to the Sun. The distance between Earth and Sun is about 93 million miles.
