NASA: 'Potentially Hazardous Asteroid' Approaching Earth On Tuesday

NASA is currently tracking a massive "potentially hazardous asteroid" that’s expected to approach Earth on Tuesday (April 14). According to the data collected by NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), the approaching asteroid is big enough to cause a major impact event on Earth if it collides with the planet. Thankfully, it will not come in close contact with Earth.

The incoming asteroid has been identified as 2020 FZ6. As indicated in CNEOS’ database, this asteroid has an estimated diameter of 620 feet, making it twice as big as the Big Ben clock tower in London, England.

CNEOS estimated that the asteroid is currently flying across the Solar System towards Earth at an impressive speed of almost 49,000 miles per hour.

2020 FZ6 is officially classified as an Apollo asteroid due to its natural orbit. According to NASA’s orbit diagram for 2020 FZ6, the asteroid occasionally crosses Earth’s path as it travels around the Sun.

After intersecting Earth’s trajectory, 2020 FZ6 will follow a path that will take it between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

Due to the asteroid’s size and Earth-crossing orbit, it has been labeled by NASA as potentially hazardous. According to the agency, potentially hazardous asteroids are space rocks that are capable of causing high levels of damage if they hit Earth.

“Potentially hazardous asteroids are currently defined based on parameters that measure the asteroid’s potential to make threatening close approaches to the Earth,” NASA explained.

“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],” the agency added.

If 2020 FZ6’s trajectory slightly changes, it could end up on a collision course with Earth. If this happens, the asteroid will cause a powerful impact event on the planet. Due to its size and potential impact velocity, the blast from the asteroid’s explosion will be powerful enough to wipe out an entire major city.

However, according to NASA, 2020 FZ6 is expected to cross Earth’s path on April 14 at 11:59 p.m. EDT at about 0.05126 astronomical units from Earth, which is equivalent to around 4.8 million miles away -- far from hitting the planet.