NASA Detects Skyscraper-Sized ‘Potentially Hazardous’ Asteroid Flying By Earth Next Week

A massive asteroid almost as big as the Eiffel Tower in Paris is expected to fly past Earth within the next couple of days, according to the data collected by NASA. Due to the asteroid’s size and orbit, it has been labeled as potentially hazardous.

The approaching asteroid is currently listed in the database of NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS). Known as 2010 NY65, this asteroid has an estimated diameter of 1,017 feet, which makes it slightly smaller than the Empire State Building.

According to CNEOS, this giant asteroid is currently flying toward Earth at a speed of almost 29,000 miles per hour.

As indicated in NASA’s orbit diagram for 2010 NY65, this asteroid’s trajectory reaches the plane between Mars and Earth. Occasionally, it intersects Earth’s orbit as it goes around the Sun. Since the asteroid crosses Earth’s path and has a larger orbital axis than the planet, it has been labeled as an Apollo asteroid.

According to NASA, 2010 NY65 is officially classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid due to its massive size and near-Earth orbit.

“Potentially hazardous asteroids are currently defined based on parameters that measure the asteroid’s potential to make threatening close approaches to the Earth. Specifically, all asteroids with a minimum orbit intersection distance of 0.05 astronomical units or less and an absolute magnitude of 22.0 or less are considered [potentially hazardous asteroids,” NASA explained in a statement.

Given 2010 NY65’s massive size, it can certainly cause a major impact event on Earth if it ends up on a direct collision course with the planet. Upon impact, the asteroid will generate a powerful blast that can incinerate everything within an area as big as a major city.

Fortunately, the massive asteroid is not in danger of hitting Earth during its upcoming flyby. According to CNEOS, 2010 NY65 is expected to safely fly past Earth on Wednesday (June 24). During its approach, the asteroid will zip past Earth from a distance of 0.02412 astronomical units, which is equivalent to about 2.3 million miles away.

This asteroid is not expected to return to Earth’s vicinity until June 25, 2021.