It’s the tallest building in Europe, but The Shard would be dwarfed by a huge asteroid that’s set to skim past Earth this week.
On August 10, asteroid 2006 QQ23 will fly within 0.049 astronomical units (4.6 million miles) of Earth, travelling at speeds of about 10,400 miles/hour.
While this distance might sound far, it’s close enough to classify the passing as ‘potentially hazardous.’
The asteroid measures around 570 metres in diameter. In comparison, Europe’s tallest building, The Shard, is 306 metres in height.
Thankfully, the chances of the asteroid hitting our planet are extremely low.
However, if it were to make contact, it could have devastating consequences to the local area.
NASA explained: “If a rocky meteoroid larger than 25 meters but smaller than one kilometer ( a little more than 1/2 mile) were to hit Earth, it would likely cause local damage to the impact area.
“We believe anything larger than one to two kilometres (one kilometre is a little more than one-half mile) could have worldwide effects.”
NASA’s Centre for Near Earth Object Studies tracks asteroids and comets that are near our planet.
Its predictions suggest that there is currently no known asteroid with a significant probability of impacting Earth in the next century.
However, NASA chief Jim Bridenstine has warned that a killer asteroid could smash into the Earth within our lifetime, unless we do more to protect the planet.
Speaking at the 2019 Planetary Defense Conference in Washington earlier this year, the NASA administrator cautioned against the so-called "giggle factor" when it comes to asteroids.
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