NASA Warns a Kilometer-Wide Asteroid is Passing by Earth Next Week

An asteroid is barrelling toward the orbit of the Earth in less than a week, the US space agency, the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA), warns.

The experts at NASA have been tracking this huge asteroid. It turns out that it could potentially crash within the orbit of our home planet next year.

asteroid 2020LD city-killing potentially hazardous asteroids — Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

NASA Warns Asteroid to Pass by Earth in Less Than a Week

As per a recent report by Daily Star, NASA classified a one-kilometer asteroid as a near-Earth object.

The massive space rock, known as 199145 (2005 YY128), is reportedly possibly crashing into the orbit of our home planet.

Daily Star notes in its report that the said asteroid is expected to barrel toward Earth on February 16. It will be roughly 2.8 million miles away from our home planet.

The news outlet notes that NASA has yet to confirm if the space rock could potentially crash into the orbit of the Earth. On top of that, the space agency kept mum if it would leave any damage.

How Big is the Asteroid?

Despite that, NASA observes that the asteroid is about 1 kilometer wide, estimated at 1,870 to 4,265 feet.

And as such, the Daily Star highlights that it is wider than the iconic Golden Gate Bridge in the United States.

It is worth noting that NASA notes that asteroids that are not bigger than 82 feet typically burn up before they get into the atmosphere of the Earth. It is due to their small size.

However, the asteroid, which would potentially pass by Earth, is way bigger than 82 feet.

Recent Asteroid with Earth Close Encounter

The new asteroid potentially barrelling towards our home planet after Valentine's day comes less than a month after another space rock had a close encounter with Earth.

NASA Asteroid — A television at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, captures the final images from the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) just before it smashes into the asteroid Dimorphos on September 26, 2022 by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

News.com Australia reports that the recent space object is sized around 11.5 to 28 feet. That said, the incoming asteroid is significantly larger than the previous one.

The previous asteroid is only as huge as the largest African elephant, or somewhat the size of a box truck.

It had its close encounter with the Earth on January 27, and it only passed by without leaving any damage to our home planet.

It is worth noting that the potential of asteroids hitting our home planet is extremely low. Not to mention that the experts at NASA are closely monitoring close encounters such as this.