The “potentially hazardous asteroid” measures up to 3,280ft (one kilometre) across and is headed our way at about 35,567mph (57,240km/h). Reports of the asteroid’s imminent approach have flooded social media, with many fearing the space rock will slam into Earth.
On Thursday, February 13, NASA’s Asteroid Watch Twitter account confirmed the space rock will make a close pass of our planet on Saturday, February 15.
Many Twitter users expressed their fears at the thought of an asteroid this big striking the planet.
Marvin Sommershof tweeted: “A killer virus spreading, asteroids on route to Earth and signals from outer space.
“Sounds like a #DoctorWho two part episode screaming for a happy end… Please.”
Another person said: “Soooooo we have a f****** huge a** ‘planet killer’ sized asteroid approaching Earth and we just gonna ignore it??????”
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One Twitter user also said: “Sooooo did y’all know there was an asteroid headed to Earth & it could kill millions?
“Yeah…according to NASA, it should be here before noon on Saturday. Maybe that’ll give me a reason to call off from work.”
The space rock in question is Asteroid 163373 (2002 PZ39), which was first observed by astronomers in 2002.
According to NASA’s estimates, the rock measures somewhere between 1,443ft and 3248ft (440m to 990m) in diameter.
The agency believes a direct hit from an asteroid at the upper end of the estimate can have global consequences.
A 2018 White House report on the dangers posed by so-called near-Earth objects (NEOs), similarly warned of the potential for global destruction.
The trajectory of this asteroid is very well known
NASA
But the good news is NASA does not expect the rock to come close enough tomorrow to hit the planet.
NASA’s Asteroid Watch Twitter account said: “We’ve seen some incorrect stories on #asteroid 2002 PZ39 circulating. The trajectory of this asteroid is very well known.
“It will safely pass Earth at a distance of 5.77 million km (3.59 million miles), about 15 times the distance of the Moon.”
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Asteroid PZ39 will indeed make a close approach to Earth tomorrow but it will only be close on the cosmic scale of distances and not in human terms.
NASA said: “As they orbit the Sun, NEOs 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.”
The asteroid will appear closest to Earth around 11.05am GMT (6.05am EST) on Saturday.
The asteroid’s approach is being tracked by NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) in Pasadena, California.
NASA said: “Given the extremely unlikely nature of such a collision, almost all of these predictions will turn out to be false alarms.
“However, if an object is verified to be on an Earth colliding trajectory, it seems likely that this collision possibility will be known several years prior to the actual event.
“Given several years warning time, existing technology could be used to deflect the threatening object away from Earth.
“The key point in this mitigation process is to find the threatening object years ahead of time so that an orderly international campaign can be mounted to send spacecraft to the threatening object.”
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