'Stadium-Sized Asteroid' Is Barreling Toward The Earth At 20 Miles Per Second on Thursday

According to Live Science, an asteroid the size of a stadium will fly past the Earth in the early hours of Thursday, Aug. 4.

NASA astronomers recently found the asteroid 2022 OE2 on July 26. It is believed to be twice as wide as an American football field, which would be between 557 and 1,246 feet (170 to 380 meters).

Equivalent To 1,000 Nuclear Bombs

As previously reported by Live Science, astronomers have also determined that 2022 OE2 is an asteroid of the Apollo class, which implies it orbits the sun and passes through the route of Earth's orbit.

Given that the Moon is just 239,000 miles (385,000 km) from Earth, the object will pass by at a distance of 3.2 million miles (5.2 million km), which means that it is fairly close to our planet.

All objects larger than 492 feet (150 m) are categorized as possibly hazardous, as noted by Interesting Engineering.

As a result, asteroid 2022 OE2 poses a serious concern since a collision with another asteroid, or the gravitational pull of a bigger space object might substantially change its course and cause it to fly toward the Earth rather than pass it by.

This massive asteroid might crash and produce energy equivalent to 1,000 nuclear bombs. But thankfully, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA predicts that this asteroid will miss Earth by a large margin.

Is Earth In Danger of Future Asteroids?

NASA has computed the trajectories of tens of thousands of near-Earth objects, including this asteroid, and is currently monitoring them. According to the space agency, Earth will not be at risk of a catastrophic asteroid collision in the next ten years, at the very least.

But space agencies are still prepared for the worst. For instance, NASA built the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, an asteroid-deflecting mission, in November 2021. In autumn 2022, a spacecraft will collide with the 525-foot-wide (160 m) asteroid Dimorphos.

As reported first by Live Science, the mission will assist in evaluating the effectiveness of asteroid deflection should a space rock represent an immediate threat to Earth in the future.

Five Approaching Asteroids

It is worth noting that all five of the asteroid approaches, according to NASA's JPL webpage involve asteroids that have only recently been found this year, such as the 2022 OE2.

Three of these asteroids will occur today, August 4, and two others will pass by tomorrow, August 5.

Asteroid 2022 OB5 will make the closest point as it passes by at a distance of 631,000 miles (1 million km). The asteroid, which is no bigger than a vehicle at 18 feet (5 meters), would most likely burn up in the atmosphere if it ever approached our planet.

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Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla