NASA is keeping an eye on a large asteroid that is set to skim past Earth on Christmas Day.
Asteroid 501647 (2014 SD224) is on the US space agency’s “Close Approach” list and could be up to 689 feet wide.
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That’s as long as two football pitches.
It’s predicted to come within 1.9million miles of Earth.
This may seem like it’s no risk at all but in terms of space that is pretty close.
Any fast moving space object that comes within around 4.65 million miles is considered to be “potentially hazardous” by cautious space organisations.
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The space rock is expected to shoot past our planet on December 25.
It should be at its closest at around 20:20 UTC.
According to Nasa’s Close Approach table, a much smaller asteroid called 2020 XY will also fly past much earlier in the day.
This asteroid could be up to 144 feet wide but should be much further away.
It’s predicted to shoot past at 3.6million miles from Earth.
The bigger and closer approaching Asteroid 501647 (2014 SD224) is travelling at a speed of around 22,000 miles per hour.
Nasa has labelled both asteroids as Near Earth Objects (NEOs).
What’s the difference between an asteroid, meteor and comet?
Here’s what you need to know, according to Nasa…
- Asteroid: An asteroid is a small rocky body that orbits the Sun. Most are found in the asteroid belt (between Mars and Jupiter) but they can be found anywhere (including in a path that can impact Earth)
- Meteoroid: When two asteroids hit each other, the small chunks that break off are called meteoroids
- Meteor: If a meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere, it begins to vapourise and then becomes a meteor. On Earth, it’ll look like a streak of light in the sky, because the rock is burning up
- Meteorite: If a meteoroid doesn’t vapourise completely and survives the trip through Earth’s atmosphere, it can land on the Earth. At that point, it becomes a meteorite
- Comet: Like asteroids, a comet orbits the Sun. However rather than being made mostly of rock, a comet contains lots of ice and gas, which can result in amazing tails forming behind them (thanks to the ice and dust vapourising)
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In other space news, an impressive amount of ‘alien soil’ from a huge asteroid has been revealed by Japan’s space agency.
Britain is to launch a spacecraft next year in a mission to ambush a comet and unlock mysteries of the universe.
And, Nasa has announced its first team of astronauts that will be heading for the Moon.
What do you make of this Christmas asteroid? Let us know in the comments…
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
