NASA Report 4 large asteroids, including a skyscraper-size ‘city killer,’ approaching Earth today heading…………
Four large asteroids are hurtling towards Earth today, October 24, with the closest approach happening within a 12-hour window ¹. Don’t panic, though – these space rocks won’t collide with our planet, but their flybys will be remarkably close.
The asteroids range in size from 100 to 580 feet across, with the largest one, 2002 NV16, being tall enough to take out a large city and cause planet-wide effects if it were to hit us ¹. Thankfully, that’s not going to happen.
Here’s a breakdown of the asteroids and their expected closest approaches:
– *2015 HM1*: 100 feet across, closest approach at 4:36 a.m. UTC (0:36 a.m. EDT) at a distance of 3.4 million miles ¹
– *2024 TP17*: 170 feet across, closest approach at 8:20 a.m. UTC (4:20 a.m. EDT) at a distance of 2.9 million miles ¹
– *2002 NV16*: 580 feet across, closest approach at 15:47 p.m. UTC (11:47 a.m. EDT) at a distance of 2.8 million miles ¹
– *2024 TR6*: 150 feet across, closest approach at 15:51 p.m. UTC (11:51 a.m. EDT) at a distance of 3.5 million miles ¹
Two of these asteroids, 2024 TR6 and 2024 TP17, were only discovered earlier this month ¹. Astronomers spot around 2,000 near-Earth asteroids every year, most of which are detected as they near their closest approaches to Earth ¹.
While these asteroids won’t be visible from Earth, scientists might be able to capture radar images of them, providing valuable insights into their composition and orbits ¹. Some of these asteroids will make even closer flybys in the future, with 2024 TR6 returning on August 5, 2039, and 2024 TP17 on October 25, 2040 ¹.