Asteroid threat today! NASA satellites track aircraft-sized Asteroid 2023 KX hurtling towards Earth

tech.hindustantimes.com:

There have been numerous asteroid impacts on Earth in the course of its 4.6 billion-year-old history but a handful of them stand out. One of the earliest asteroid impacts on Earth was around 4.5 billion years old when a massive object called Theia, about the size of Mars, collided with Earth and resulted in the formation of the Moon. Another asteroid crashed in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico nearly 65 million years ago, and it wiped out the dinosaurs. The most recent asteroid impact happened just a decade ago when an asteroid exploded over the city of Chelyabinsk in 2013. The largest asteroid to hit Earth was around 2 billion years ago

The increasing number of asteroids that pass Earth closely has made it imperative for space agencies such as NASA and ESA to continuously monitor them, and another one is set to pass Earth closely today. Know the asteroid's details here.

According to details revealed by NASA, an asteroid, identified as Asteroid 2023 KX, is close to Earth, traveling at 57350 kilometers per hour. It will make its closest approach to the Earth today, May 26, at a distance of 6.1 million kilometers.

It belongs to the Amor group of Near-Earth Asteroids which are Earth-approaching asteroids with orbits exterior to Earth but interior to Mars', named after asteroid 1221 Amor.

In terms of size, NASA estimates it to be around 75 feet and 167 feet wide, making it almost as big as an aircraft! Although NASA scientists estimate that an asteroid would have to be about 96 km wide to completely and utterly wipe out life on Earth, smaller asteroids such as Asteroid 2023 KX also have the potential to cause damage up to some extent. For example, the asteroid which exploded over the city of Chelyabinsk was just 59 feet wide.