The asteroid, officially designated Asteroid 1998 HL1, is bound on an “Earth Close Approach” trajectory. NASA predicts the imposing rocky body will come hurtling past Earth on the early evening of Friday, October 25. At its closest, Asteroid HL1 will close-in on our planet around 6.21pm BST (5.21pm UTC). When this happens, NASA’s asteroid tracker said the object will fly by at speeds of around 11.21km per second or 25,076mph (40,356kph).
What do we know about Asteroid 1998 HL1?
The colossal asteroid has been officially designated by astronomers a “Near-Earth Object” (NEO) and a “Potentially Hazardous Asteroid” (PHA).
The space rock was discovered by NASA’s Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research project (LINEAR) near Socorro, New Mexico.
NASA’s asteroid trackers first spotted the space rock on April 14, 1998, and have since tracked it more than 470 times.
Asteroid HL1 is a PHA, meaning it is big enough and approaches “unusually” close enough to warrant interest from astronomers.
NASA said: “Potentially hazardous asteroids are about 150m – almost 500ft – or larger, roughly twice as big as the Statue of Liberty is tall.
Potentially hazardous asteroids are about 150m – almost 500ft – or larger
NASA
“They approach Earth’s orbit to within 7.5 million kilometres – about 4.6 million miles.
“By comparison, when Mars and Earth are at their closest, they are about 53 million kilometres – about 33 million miles – apart.”
Asteroid HL1 fits the description by measuring somewhere in the range of 1,443ft to 3,248ft (440m to 990m) in diameter.
At the upper end of the scale, the object is big enough to cause damage on a global scale should it hit.
At 3,248ft (990m), the asteroid is comparable in size to 100 London double-decker buses lined up in a row.
About 500 queen size beds could fit across HL1 and the rock’s width is equal to about 250 Volkswagen Beetle cars.
Even at the lower end of NASA’s estimate, the asteroid is about as tall as the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Will Asteroid 1998 HL1 strike the Earth this month?
Despite its colossal size and close approach on October 25, NASA does not expect HL1 to hit the Earth anytime soon.
On its closest approach later this month, the asteroid will shoot by from a distance of about 0.04155 astronomical units.
One astronomical unit measures about 93 million miles (149.6 million km) or the distance from Earth to the Sun.
In other words, Asteroid HL1 will safely miss the Earth from a distance of about 3.86 million miles (6.2 million km).
NASA said: “As they orbit the Sun, Near-Earth Objects can occasionally approach close to Earth.
“Note that a ‘close’ passage astronomically can be very far away in human terms: millions or even tens of millions of kilometres.”
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