In the new year, a skyscraper-sized asteroid is going to pierce Earth’s atmosphere.
NASA classified the massive boulder Asteroid 2013 YD48 as a “potentially hazardous object.”
On January 11, it will pass within 3.48 million miles of Earth.
The asteroid is around 104 meters broad, which is about the same width as Big Ben, the famous clock tower of UK.
The 3.48 million miles it will miss Earth may seem huge, but when you think about how far away things are in space, it’s not that far at all.
NASA classifies anything that passes within 120 million miles of Earth as a Near-Earth Object(NEO).
Due to the great distances they fly, even the tiniest of modifications in their flight paths could be devastating to our planet.
Thousands of these are being tracked by scientists to see if they’re headed for Earth or not.
And 2013 YD48 isn’t the only asteroid approaching Earth in the coming weeks.
Three other comets are scheduled to cross the Earth prior to this one.
This Sunday, the 2021 YK, which is 12 meters wide, will fly within 118,000 kilometers of the Earth.
Then, on January 6, 2014 YE15, a tiny 7m diameter comet that will travel within 4.6 million miles of Earth, will pass by.
The third and last asteroid is 2020 AP1, which is the tiniest at barely 4 meters across and will pass us by on January 7 at a distance of 1.08 million miles.
It’s not uncommon to see them pass so close to Earth; earlier this week, an asteroid nearly three times the size of 2013 YD48 sped by at 47,000 miles per hour, passing within 1.9 million miles of Earth.
Similarly, on Christmas Eve, an asteroid estimated to be ten times the size of this year’s Rockefeller Christmas tree in New York flew by Earth.
The massive rock, which measured 229 meters in diameter, came within 4 million miles of our planet.
Image Credit: Getty
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