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Oursolar systemis home to millions of ratter space rocks , and this week three particularly large ones will blaze past Earth . But do n’t worry – the close one will still overleap our satellite by a comfortable 2.2 million miles ( 3.5 million kilometer ) , or about 10 time the average space between Earth and the moonshine , fit in toNASA .
On Monday ( Feb. 27 ) , anasteroidnamed2012 DK31will sweep past our major planet at a distance of about 3 million miles ( 4.8 million km ) . The asteroid measures an estimated 450 foot ( 137 metre ) across , or about as wide as a 40 - story skyscraper is tall , and its field around the Dominicus crosses Earth ’s eye socket every few years .
An artist’s impression of a near-Earth asteroid.
Although the infinite rock poses no imminent threat to Earth , NASAclassifies it as a potentially hazardous asteroid ( PHA ) – mean the rock-and-roll is large enough and orbits closelipped enough to Earth that it could induce serious damage if its flight changed and a hit occurred . Generally , any asteroid measure greater than 450 feet across-the-board and orbiting within 4.6 million miles ( 7.5 million km ) of Earth is view a PHA . ( NASA has map this asteroid ’s trajectory for the next 200 days , and no collision are predicted to fall out ) .
Related : Could an asteroid destroy Earth ?
On Tuesday ( Feb. 28 ) a second skyscraper - sized PHA , also valuate roughly 450 metrical unit across , will track our planet ’s compass at a length of about 2.2 million miles ( 3.5 million klick ) . live as2006 BE55 , this chunky space stone ’s orbit track Earth ’s orbit every four or five years .
eventually , on Friday ( March 3 ) , an asteroid measuring around 250 feet ( 76 meter ) across will fly by at a space of 3.3 million nautical mile ( 5.3 million klick ) . The sway , named2021 QW , is n’t quite spacious enough to characterise as a PHA , but still makes a relatively close-fitting approach to Earth every few years .
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Why do scientists pay such close aid to quad rocks that will miss our satellite by millions of Roman mile ? Because even slight changes to an asteroid ’s flight – say , from being nudged by another asteroid or influenced by the somberness of a planet – could send nearby object like these on a unmediated collision class with Earth .
Fortunately , NASA ’s calculations show that no known asteroids are currently on a path to strike Earth any fourth dimension for at least 100 geezerhood . Should a large asteroid one twenty-four hour period pose a verbatim threat to our planet , astronomer are already working on method to thwart it . That was the motivation behind NASA ’s recentDouble Asteroid Redirection Test ( DART ) mission , which intentionally smashed a rocket into an asteroid to alter its orbital focal ratio . The mission did not destroy its target outright , but did prove that point - on rocket onrush are up to of exchange a blank space rock ’s orbital parameters in significant way .
