Close call with asteroid today, reveals NASA! Check its size, speed, and more

tech.hindustantimes.com:

Asteroids often make close approaches to Earth, making it imperative to discover and track them for potential impacts. While these space rocks may rarely ever hit Earth, their size, and history of impacts is enough to spread fear in the scientific community. But it seems like asteroids aren't only plaguing us in real life, but in video games too. Players of Starfield, Bethesda's new open-world RPG, have been reporting issues of being followed by asteroids wherever they go! Not only in space, but asteroids are also accompanying players when they touch down on a planet's surface! NASA itself had earlier reacted to Starfield in a humor-filled way.

In a separate, real-life development, NASA has shed light on an asteroid that will pass Earth at an extremely close distance today, September 21.

According to details revealed by NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), this asteroid, designated as Asteroid 2023 SJ is expected to make its closest approach to Earth today, September 21. Its orbit will bring it as close as 6.4 million kilometers near Earth. While this distance might seem a lot, it is quite short in astronomical terms. It has been estimated to be travelling at a breakneck speed of 59348 kilometers per hour.

According to NASA, the asteroid that is approaching Earth is not expected to impact Earth's surface and isn't big enough to be classified as a Potentially Hazardous Object. Asteroid 2023 SJ is estimated to be between 118 feet and 265 feet wide, which is not big enough to be classified as a Potentially Hazardous Object. In terms of size, it is nearly as big as an aircraft.

It belongs to the Apollo group of Near-Earth Asteroids, which are Earth-crossing space rocks with semi-major axes larger than Earth's.