NASA is keeping a close eye on a huge asteroid that’s heading in our direction.
Asteroid 467460 (2006 JF42) is expected to make a close approach to Earth next week.
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The US space agency has added the large space rock to its Earth Close Approaches table.
The asteroid is estimated to be up to a staggering 2,756 feet wide.
That’s almost twice the size of the Empire State Building which is 1,250 feet high without its tip or 1,454 feet high with it.
Fortunately, the giant space rock should stay 3.5million miles away from our planet.
In comparison, the Moon is only about 238,900 miles from us.
The asteroid may sound like it’s staying pretty far away but in the grand scheme of space it’s a close enough distance to raise Nasa’s interest.
If an asteroid comes within 4.65million miles and is over a certain size it’s considered “potentially hazardous” by cautious space agencies.
Nasa expects the asteroid to shoot past us at 25,000 miles per hour.
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It should come closest to us at around 00:13 UTC (8:13pm ET).
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 defense.”
Nasa is looking into some defense 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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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
