Around 66 million years ago, an asteroid crashed into Earth and ended the age of the dinosaurs! This devastating asteroid crash caused the extinction not just of dinosaurs, but a wide range of other living beings too, including environmental and biotic organisms. It was just one tale filled with terror amongst the total of 1113527 asteroids found so far. However, the terror of asteroid crashes is very much there today for humanity too. Almost on a daily basis, NASA keeps everyone alert about the upcoming planet-killer space rocks such as asteroids and comets. In a recent development, NASA has found a massive 120-foot wide asteroid that is hurtling towards Earth today to make a horrifyingly close approach.
NASA's Asteroid Watch dashboard says that any asteroid which will approach within 4.6 million miles or 7.5 million kilometers of Earth and will measure more than about 150 meters, will be termed as a potentially hazardous asteroid. To determine whether the upcoming asteroid poses any threat to Earth or not, NASA keeps a close eye on all the upcoming objects. This upcoming asteroid named 2022 VR1 will make a terrifyingly close approach of just 0.969 million miles! It is also moving at an astonishing pace - a velocity of 20483 kmph.
So, should you worry?
Despite the fact that this giant 120-foot-wide asteroid is hurtling toward Earth, you should not worry because Nasa technology, from telescopes to satellites, indicate that it will miss Earth even though it will fly by at an extremely close distance.
Did you know?
NASA keeps constant track of all the asteroids, comets, and other near-Earth objects through the various technologies that it has deployed including, planetary radar like radio telescopes at NASA's Deep Space Network
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