asteroid
The asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs millions of years ago also caused a worldwide tsunami. Pictured: An image mosaic of the asteroid Eros, with sunlight coming from the northeast, taken by the robotic NEAR Shoemaker space probe March 3, 2000 from a distance of 204 kilometers, or 127 miles. After a year of circling and taking pictures, NEAR will touch down on asteroid Eros February 12, 2001, to capture surface details, which will be the first time any craft has tried to land on a tumbling space rock. Getty Images/NASA/Newsmakers

NASA is currently monitoring a massive asteroid that’s expected to come dangerously close to Earth on Sunday. According to the agency’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), the asteroid might approach the planet at a lunar distance of only one.

Dubbed as asteroid 2016 NO56, the near-Earth object was first observed on July 6, 2016. During this time, it approached the planet from a distance of only 0.00488 astronomical units or around 454,000 miles.

Data collected on the asteroid revealed that it has a velocity of 27,000 miles per hour and has a diameter of 144 feet, making it almost as tall as the Chicago Water Tower.

For its upcoming visit, CNEOS estimated that 2016 NO56 will fly by Earth on July 7 at 10:12 am ST. Once it approaches Earth, it will most likely be about 0.0087 astronomical units or 815,000 miles from the planet’s center. This is equivalent to less than four times the distance between the Earth and the Moon.

Although the asteroid will be flying at a relatively safe range, NASA believes there’s a chance that it could approach Earth at a much closer distance.

According to the data collected by the CNEOS, it’s possible that 2016 NO56 will approach Earth within a lunar distance of only one, which is equivalent to 0.00258 astronomical units or roughly 240,000 miles. At this range, the asteroid will almost be as far as the Moon is to Earth.

As explained in previous studies, the trajectory path of asteroids can be affected by various factors in space such as gravitational keyholes. These are certain regions in space that are affected by the gravitational pull of a nearby large object such as a planet.

In the case of 2016 NO56, its trajectory may have changed due to its previous approaches. Prior to its upcoming visit to Earth, it flew past the Moon and Venus in 2016 and 2018, respectively.

The gravitational pull from these cosmic bodies most likely altered the asteroid’s course and nudged it into a path near Earth. Similarly, NASA believes the asteroid might approach Earth at a much closer distance due to the planet’s gravitational pull.

RELATED STORIES
NASA Asteroid Earth Moon