On Monday space agency NASA tracked three asteroids descending on its pathway towards Earth including one bigger than a jumbo jet. NASA agency’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) identified the first object travelling at a speed of 16,700 mph and a diameter of 67m. The second identical asteroid – which came hurtling towards earth called RG2 – travelled at a velocity of 50,000mph also measuring 67m.
Then third asteroid called QY4 crosses the earth at 17,380mph and measured 15 metres.
CNEOS computes high-precision orbits for Near-Earth Objects.
These orbit solutions are used to predict the approaches of space object heading towards Earth.
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.”
According to CNEOS calculations, the closest asteroid came within 1.36 Lunar Distances (LD) or 522,240km from Earth.
The furthest missed Earth by 9.68 LD which is equivalent to 3,720,960km.
Lunar Distance is the the distance between of the moon from the sun.
Meanwhile, Nasa has discovered yet another Asteroid is heading towards Earth.
Travelling at a speed of 32,000mph the rock is expected to approach Earth on Saturday.
NASA’s trackers estimate Asteroid CO1 will appear close to Earth around 4.42am BST (3.42am UTC).
Near-Earth asteroids can reach up to 3,200 metres wide and can stay in orbit for between 10 million and 100 million years.
The space agency said: “A relatively small number of near-Earth objects pass close enough to Earth and are large enough in size to warrant close observation.
“That’s because the gravitational tug of the planets could, over time, cause an object’s orbital path to evolve into an Earth-crossing orbit. This allows for the possibility of a future collision.”
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The new warning about the threat asteroids comes as teams from Nasa in the US and the European Space Agency (ESA) outlined plans to protect the planet.
Engineers are working on developing a spacecraft to crash into objects destined for Earth.
Nasa has already started building the Double Asteroid Impact Test, or Dart spacecraft, which is scheduled to launch during the summer of 2021.
Two years later the European Space Agency plans to carry out mission ‘Hera’ in order to measure the size and properties of the smashed asteroid particles.
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