NASA Warns Asteroid as Big as the Eiffel Tower to Passb y Earth—Is it a Threat?

NASA warned that an asteroid, which is sized as big as the Eiffel Tower, is passing by Earth this December, classifying it as "Potentially Hazardous Asteroid."

NASA Warns about an Asteroid as Big as the Eiffel Tower

As per the report by The Sun, the massive asteroid carries three times the size of a football pitch. To be precise, the giant rock that will be passing near the Earth is 1,080 feet long.

Although the asteroid that goes by the name 4660 Nereus has a larger size than most of the asteroids, it is still considered tiny when compared to the largest rocks out there.

NASA: Eiffel Tower-Sized Asteroid to Pass by Earth

NASA or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration issued a warning that an asteroid is passing by from about 2.4 million miles away from our home planet, Earth, on Dec. 11.

It is worth noting that the said travel distance of the Eiffel Tower-sized asteroid is ten times the distance of the Moon and Earth. That said, the massive asteroid will be far from human settlement.

Asteroid in December: Is it a Threat?

As such, the US space agency noted that the 330m wide asteroid is not a threat to the folks from Earth.

However, according to the news story by The Independent UK, the said asteroid is expected to fly nearer to the Earth in the years and decades to come.

In fact, in the next 175 years, NASA predicts that the same asteroid is set to make 12 more close passes on Earth.

The next time that the 4660 Nereus is passing by the Earth is sometime in March 2031, followed by another near-distance travel in 2050.

However, the most notable is its return in Feb. 2060, as it is predicted to travel the Earth away by 750,000 miles.

Asteroid 4660 Nereus

The massive asteroid as tall as the Eiffel Tower was first discovered by an American astronomer, Eleoner Helin, way back in 1982.

It is to note that the 4660 Nereus was classified among the Apollo group of asteroids, which pass by near the Earth as part of its orbiting journey around the Sun.

Although the said asteroid has long been discovered, a space mission visiting it has yet to take place.

One reason for it is attributed to its far-away distance, which could take a space mission more than a year or over 400 days to reach.

NASA and Asteroids

The arrival of the said asteroid is not the first of its kind.

In fact, NASA has been tracking asteroids that pass close to the vicinity of the Earth. For instance, last Oct. 17, NASA looked into an asteroid as tall as the Empire State Building.

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Written by Teejay Boris