Dangerous Asteroid ESA Warned About Now Headed For Earth

An asteroid that the European Space Agency (ESA) previously warned about is currently approaching Earth. According to the data collected by the ESA and NASA, the asteroid is expected to fly near Earth next week.

The approaching asteroid has been identified by NASA and the ESA as 2006 QV89. According to the agencies, this asteroid is flying at a speed of over 9,200 miles per hour. It has an estimated diameter of 171 feet, making it almost as big as the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy.

2006 QV89 was previously included by the ESA in its risk list, which features asteroids that are in danger of colliding with Earth. According to the space agency, the asteroid's chances of hitting Earth were one in 7,000. The possible collision between the asteroid and Earth was predicted to happen during the last week of September.

The asteroid’s potential to hit Earth can be attributed to a variety of factors but probably the most possible one is its orbit type. As noted by the ESA, 2006 QV89 is an Apollo asteroid, which means its orbit intersects with that of Earth as the planet travels around the Sun.

ESA indicated that 2006 QV89 is known to intersect Earth’s orbit from a distance of only 0.00016 astronomical units or 14,900 miles away. In space, this is a very short distance especially since asteroids are susceptible to changing directions. If 2006 QV89 gets nudged by another cosmic object or gets pulled by gravitation forces, it could easily end up on a collision course with Earth.

Fortunately, the ESA ruled out a possible collision between Earth and the asteroid after carrying out follow-up studies on 2006 QV89. In a previous statement, the agency announced that it had taken the asteroid off the risk list.

“In the first known case of ruling out an asteroid impact through a ‘non-detection,’ ESA and the European Southern Observatory have concluded that asteroid 2006 QV89 is not on a collision course this year – and the chance of any future impact is extremely remote,” the ESA said in a statement.

According to NASA and the ESA’s asteroid tracking systems, 2006 QV89 will fly past Earth on Sept. 26 at 11:54 pm EDT. During this time, the asteroid will approach Earth from a distance of 0.04631 astronomical units or roughly 4.3 million miles away.