With every passing second, the “potentially hazardous asteroid” or PHA is shortening its distance from Earth. According to NASA’s asteroid tracking systems, the object dubbed 2006 SF6 is locked-in on a “close approach” trajectory. The space rock will approach Earth minutes after midnight on Tuesday, November 21.
The prospect is terrifying as the astroid is potentially big enough to single-handedly wipe out an entire continent.
Asteroid SF6 is an Aten-type Near-Earth Object or NEO trapped in the inner solar system.
The asteroid’s orbit path is similar to that of Asteroid 2062 Aten and it frequently passes close to Earth.
NASA estimates the rock measures somewhere in the range of 918ft to 2,034ft (280m to 620m) across.
At the upper end of NASA’s estimate, SF6 is taller than the Canton Tower in China, and the Sears Tower in Chicago, US.
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At the lower end of the estimate, the asteroid is comparable in size to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.
A 2018 White House report on the dangers of unidentified asteroids, suggests an object this big could kill untold millions.
A chart comparing the relative size of an asteroid to its potential “impact devastation” shows anything measuring between 1,312ft to 5,249ft (400m and 1.6km) across can destroy a whole continent.
The report reads: “Even small NEOs can have significant destructive effects.
“For example, on February 15, 2013, an asteroid approximately 20 meters in size created an airburst near Chelyabinsk, Russia, with roughly 20 to 30 times more energy than that released by the first atomic bombs.
“It damaged thousands of buildings and injured over a thousand people, mostly due to glass broken by the shock wave.”
Even small NEOs can have significant destructive effects
White House report on asteroid dangers
According to the dire report, there are an estimated 10 million NEOs larger than 65.6ft (20m).
Unfortunately, these objects are “extremely difficult to detect prior to entering Earth’s atmosphere”.
The White House report also found there are more than 300,000 space rocks larger than 131ft (40m) across that “would be very challenging to detect more than a few days in advance”.
Even an asteroid this small threatens to pose a considerable impact capable of levelling an entire city.
Because of these dangers, Asteroid SF6 fits the mould of what NASA considers to be a “potentially hazardous asteroid”.
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The killer space rock orbits the Sun from a distance of 1.3 astronomical units and it is larger than 460ft (140m) across.
NASA 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.”
When Asteroid SF6 approaches our home planet on November 21, it will reach speeds of about 7.95km per second or 17,783mph (28,619kph).
Thankfully there is no need to sound the alarm bells just yet because NASA does not expect the rock to strike the Earth anytime soon.
At its closest, NASA said SF6 will approach Earth from a distance of about 0.02886 astronomical units.
One astronomical unit describes the distance from the Sun to Earth – about 93 million miles (149.6 million km).
Asteroid SF6 will slash this down to just 2.68 million miles (4.3 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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