NASA Warns 361-Foot Asteroid To Skim Earth On Wednesday

NASA has detected an asteroid bigger than the Statue of Liberty that’s on a near-collision path with Earth. According to the agency, the massive asteroid is expected to enter Earth’s vicinity on Wednesday.

The approaching asteroid has been identified by NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) as 2019 UK6. As indicated in the agency’s database, the asteroid is currently moving towards Earth at an average speed of over 17,000 miles per hour.

CNEOS estimated that the asteroid has a diameter of around 361 feet. This means that the asteroid is bigger than the Big Ben clock tower in London.

2019 UK6 is officially classified as an Amor asteroid. Unlike other asteroid families such as Apollos and Atens, Amor asteroids do not follow an Earth-crossing orbit. Instead, it takes on a wide orbit around the Earth and the Sun.

However, even though they do not intersect the planet’s orbit, Amor asteroids are still known to make dangerous near-Earth approaches. Because of this, 2019 UK6 has been labeled as a near-Earth object.

According to NASA, these cosmic objects pose a threat to Earth due to their natural orbits. 2019 UK6 is only one of the thousands of near-Earth objects that NASA’s asteroid trackers monitor daily.

Given the asteroid’s massive size, the amount of energy that would be released from an impact event caused by 2019 UK6 would be equivalent to hundreds of atomic bombs. It would also generate powerful blast waves that could incinerate and level an entire city.

If the approaching asteroid hits the water instead, it would trigger tsunamis that are powerful enough to wipe out nearby coastal regions.

Fortunately, 2019 UK6 is not in danger of hitting Earth during its upcoming approach. According to CNEOS, the massive asteroid is expected to fly past Earth on Nov. 20 at 1:20 a.m. EST. During its approach, its closest distance from Earth is expected to be about 0.03952 astronomical units or roughly 3.8 million miles.

Since the asteroid was only observed by NASA last month, the agency does not yet have the necessary data to predict when the asteroid’s next near-Earth approach will occur.