NASA has its eye on a large asteroid that’s about to make a “close approach” to Earth.
Asteroid 2022 KV1 is predicted to be up to 328 feet wide and should skim past Earth tomorrow.
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Its predicted size would make it larger than the Statue of Liberty.
New York’s Statue of Liberty stands at 305 feet tall when you include the base.
An asteroid of this size could do some damage if it hit Earth but the space rock is expected to pass us from a safe distance.
The larger asteroid should pass Earth from just over 2.6million miles away.
That may sound pretty far away but in the grand scheme of space this isn’t a large distance at all.
That’s why Nasa has still flagged it as a “close approach”.
If an asteroid comes within 4.65million miles and is over a certain size, it’s also considered “potentially hazardous” by cautious space agencies.
Asteroid 2022 KV1 is predicted to rocket past Earth at just under 40,000 miles per hour.
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The closest approach is expected at 7:10pm UTC (3:10pm ET) on June 8.
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 has launched its Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission for this purpose.
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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