NASA has its eye on eight asteroids that are all set to make a ‘close approach’ to Earth in January.
We’ve already had some ‘potentially hazardous’ asteroids shoot past us this month but there’s eight more space rocks heading our way, according to Nasa data.
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The asteroids are expected to make their close approaches between January 20 and January 28.
One that’s expected to zip past Earth on January 20 is larger than the Statue of Liberty.
Nasa thinks Asteroid 2022 AB could be up to 361 feet wide.
In comparison, the Statue of Liberty stands at around 305 feet.
That particular asteroid should come about 2.3 million miles away from Earth before shooting off into space.
It should be travelling at around 13,000 miles per hour.
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A smaller space rock called Asteroid 2022 AE6 should shoot past later that same day.
Nasa thinks that ‘close approach’ asteroid is about 148 feet wide and travelling at around 24,000 miles per hour.
It should come closer to Earth at a distance of 1.1 million miles away.
That may seem pretty far away but it’s actually very close as near-Earth asteroids go.
Nasa considers anything passing within 120million miles of Earth a Near-Earth Object (NEO).
Thousands of NEOs are tracked by scientists to monitor whether they’re on a collision course with our planet.
Any fast-moving space object that comes within 4.65 million miles is considered to be “potentially hazardous” by cautious space organizations.
One small change to their trajectories could spell disaster for Earth.
Two more close approach asteroids are expected to shoot past on January 21.
They’re smaller than the first two and range from 62 to 118 feet wide.
Asteroid 2022 AX4 will shoot past first at a distance of around 1.9 million miles.
Asteroid 2018 PN22 is next on Nasa’s list and the space agency expects a passing distance of 2.7 million miles.
A much larger space rock is expected to shoot past on January 24.
It’s called Asteroid 2017 XC62 and Nasa thinks it’s up to 623 feet wide.
That’s over twice the size of the Statue of Liberty.
The giant asteroid should shoot past us at a slower speed of just over 9,500 miles per hour from a distance of 4.4 million miles away.
The last three close approach asteroids of January 2022 should shoot past on the 27 and 28.
They range from 101 feet to 213 feet wide.
The smaller of the three will actually come to closest on January 28.
Asteroid 2022 AG6 is expected to come within 1.8 million miles of Earth and speed past at just over 8,000 miles per hour.
Despite all the space rocks, there’s still no need to panic as none of the asteroids are expected to impact Earth.
Meet the man with an observatory on a Welsh hilltop who tracks thousands of potentially apocalyptic asteroids for Nasa
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