Asteroid 'city killer' to shoot past earth TOMORROW as Nasa track 'bus-sized' space rock
Sample of the asteroid Bennu goes on public display
Nasa
A bus-sized asteroid is set to hurtle past Earth today at a staggering speed of 35,000mph - ten times faster than a speeding bullet.
The space rock, known as Asteroid 2025 BS4, will pass within 511,000 miles of our planet at approximately 3.30pm.
The 23-foot-wide asteroid will maintain a safe distance from Earth, coming no closer than twice the average distance between Earth and the moon.
Nasa has been closely monitoring the trajectory of 2025 BS4 as it approaches our planet's gravitational neighbourhood.
The Asteroid is set to whizz past the Earth (file pic)
Getty
The massive space object is slightly smaller than a typical American school bus, which ranges from 35 to 40 feet in length.
Due to its relative proximity to our planet, 2025 BS4 is classified as a Near Earth Object (NEO), which Nasa JPL defines as asteroids or comets that orbit the sun and can come within 30 million miles of Earth's orbit.
The asteroid weighs as much as a blue whale - more than 970,000 pounds. If this massive space rock were to collide with Earth, scientists calculate the impact force would be equivalent to 19,000 tons of TNT.
Such an impact would be powerful enough to cause catastrophic damage if it struck a large city. However, Nasa confirms the asteroid poses no immediate threat to our planet during today's flyby.
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Nasa's Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CENOS) leads the initiative to track these celestial objects, with 2025 BS4 being just one of more than 37,000 NEOs discovered so far.
"Asteroids can come at any moment towards Earth. Having eyes on the sky everywhere in the world allows us to track them", said Franck Marchis, senior astronomer at the SETI Institute. CENOS scientists utilise JPL's 'Sentry' Earth impact monitoring system to analyse asteroid data for potential impacts within the next century.
The US space agency and organisations worldwide maintain vigilant observation of these objects as they move through Earth's gravitational neighbourhood.
Another bus-sized asteroid, 2025 BF5, is also expected to make a close approach tomorrow, passing within 797,000 miles of Earth. Two more asteroids will zip past our planet on Wednesday, including a bus-sized rock and a house-sized asteroid.
Franck Marchis, senior astronomer at the SETI Institute
Seti Institute
These space objects will come within 1,630,000 miles and 2,330,000 miles of Earth respectively.
The 100-foot asteroid 2025 BH2 is also making its journey past Earth today, though at a much greater distance of 4,280,000 miles.
These close encounters are part of regular asteroid activity near Earth, with Nasa confirming that none pose any immediate threat to our planet.
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