A GIANT asteroid is heading towards Earth today and should make a close approach this evening.
The large space rock has earned itself a spot on Nasa’s Earth Close Approaches table.
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Nasa thinks Asteroid 2022 HT2 could be up to 1246 feet wide.
That’s over four times the size of the Statue of Liberty.
New York’s iconic monument stands at 305 feet from base to tip.
The good news is the giant asteroid isn’t expected to hit Earth but should come ‘close’ to our planet, which has piqued Nasa’s interest.
Asteroid 2022 HT2 should stay around 2.8million miles away from Earth.
That may sound pretty far away but in the grand scheme of space, this isn’t a large distance at all.
If an asteroid comes within 4.65million miles and is over a certain size, it’s considered “potentially hazardous” by cautious space agencies.
Even space rocks smaller than Asteroid 2022 HT2 could do some serious damage if they hit Earth.
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The large asteroid should pass our planet at around 9:29pm UTC (5:29 PM ET) on May 30.
It should be traveling at just over 35,000 miles per hour.
Plans to save Earth from asteroids
Some experts are worried that Earth isn’t yet ready to defend itself from potentially deadly asteroids.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk once sparked concern by tweeting: “a big rock will hit Earth eventually & we currently have no defence.”
Nasa is looking into some defence methods though.
It recently launched its Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission.
Nasa said: “DART is the first-ever mission dedicated to investigating and demonstrating one method of asteroid deflection by changing an asteroid’s motion in space through kinetic impact.”
The DART craft should slam into a small asteroid called Dimorphos in September with the aim of moving it off course.
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