Asteroids are serious business. Just ask dinosaurs. Yes, they’re no longer here. A space rock with a diameter of just a few kilometres is enough to wipe life off the Earth because of high speeds they possess. Earth has been battered by space rocks for millions of years. And we know that at least once, it caused a global catastrophe which nearly made our planet a barren wasteland devoid of any life.
It is hence important to keep an eye on the asteroids which have their own home inside the solar system called ‘asteroid belt’. But many of them keep on zooming past planets including Earth. Direct collision with one such space rock is definitely not good. Space agencies around the world have their lenses pointed at the space for any piece of incoming bad news.
NASA has warned about three asteroids that are going to shoot past Earth. If you are reading this news story on Monday (December 16), then you are doing so when the asteroids are already in our immediate planetary neighbourhood.
Asteroid 2024 VE7
This is one of the large asteroids from Apollo class of asteroids. It is slated to come within 2.79 million kilometre distance from Earth on Monday.
This may sound like a huge distance but given astronomical scale, this is very close!
This asteroid takes 1526 days to complete one orbit around the Sun. It is going to zoom past the Earth.
Asteroid 2024 XY5
This asteroid will fly past Earth on December 16 too, at a distance of 3.5 million kilometres. It takes 467 days to complete one orbit around the Sun.
Asteroid 2024 XE16
This asteroid will visit our neighbourhood on December 16 as well. It takes 580 days to complete one orbit around the Sun.
At its closest approach to Earth this time, it will be at a distance of 6.8 million kilometres.
