NASA Asteroid 2019: 2 NEOs Likely To Explode In Earth's Sky On Wednesday

NASA is currently monitoring two asteroids that are currently heading towards Earth. If these asteroids hit the planet, they’ll most likely cause a powerful explosion in the air.

According to the agency’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), the first asteroid that’s set to approach Earth on Wednesday is called 2019 TZ. This asteroid is currently moving towards Earth with a speed of 26,000 miles per hour. CNEOS estimated that this asteroid is about 95 feet wide.

The second asteroid that will visit Earth’s vicinity is called 2019 SL7. According to CNEOS, this asteroid flying with an incredible velocity of 38,000 miles per hour. It has an estimated diameter of about 131 feet.

Both 2019 TZ and 2019 SL7 have been classified by CNEOS as Apollo asteroids. Like other Apollos, these two asteroids have very wide orbits that take them around the Earth and the Sun. From time to time, these asteroids intersect the orbit of Earth as it completed its cycle around the Sun.

The asteroids’ close-intersections with Earth indicate that there’s a chance that the space rocks could collide with the planet in the future. If they do, they probably won’t hit the ground. Instead, these asteroids will most likely break up in the atmosphere and explode mid-air.

Due to their size, the airburst that will be caused by these asteroids can be dangerous for anyone on the ground. After all, they are bigger than the asteroid that detonated over Russia in 2013.

During that incident, the mid-air explosion caused by an asteroid that was about 66 feet wide released energy that was equivalent to 500 kilotons of TNT, which is about 30 times more powerful than the atomic bomb using in World War II.

Although much of the energy was absorbed by Earth’s atmosphere, it still damaged about 7,000 buildings on the ground and left around 1,500 people injured.

Fortunately, both 2019 TZ and 2019 SL7 are not in danger of hitting the planet in their upcoming visit. According to CNEOS, 2019 TZ will approach Earth on Oct. 9 at 6:17 a.m. EDT from a distance of 0.02061 astronomical units or roughly 1.9 million miles away.

2019 SL7, on the other hand, will fly past Earth on Oct. 9 at 10:28 p.m. EDT. During its approach, the asteroid will be about 0.00363 astronomical units or around 337,000 miles from Earth’s center.