NASA tracking bus-sized asteroid whose orbit will bring it close to Earth today

tech.hindustantimes.com:

Over the past few years, the advance in scientific research has shed light on dinosaurs, and how these mammoth creatures went extinct. The theory, known as the Alvarez hypothesis, claims that an asteroid struck Earth nearly 65 million years ago and wiped out entire species of dinosaurs. This theory is backed by some proof too as scientists have also discovered its impact crater, known as the Chicxulub crater, buried under the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. As per the hypothesis, the impact of the asteroid would have caused the formation of huge tidal waves and an impact crater almost 140 km wide. Land material would have splattered into space, changing the Earth into a nuclear winter-like environment and ultimately, it would lead to the demise of dinosaurs and many other species.

While incidents like that happen infrequently, dangerous asteroids, big and small, keep visiting Earth and they do pose a threat sometimes. Now, NASA's Defense Coordination Office (PDCO), which is responsible for monitoring the skies and keeping a watch on various Near-Earth Objects (NEOs), has issued a warning against an asteroid that will pass Earth closely today.

NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) has designated this space rock as Asteroid 2023 PH1. The asteroid will make its closest approach to Earth today, August 16, at a distance of just 2 million kilometers. Shockingly, it is already rushing towards Earth in its orbit, traveling at a speed of about 21538 kilometers per hour, which is just shy of the speed of an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM)!

Asteroid 2023 PH1 belongs to the Aten group of asteroids, which are Earth-crossing Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) with semi-major axes smaller than Earth's. They are named after