Video Shows How Close 2,133-Foot Killer Asteroid Will Be To Earth Next Month

A new video shows the upcoming close encounter between Earth and a city-killer asteroid that has been classified by NASA as potentially hazardous. According to the agency, the approaching asteroid is twice as tall as the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

The approaching asteroid has been identified as 2000 QW7. In a video posted by the YouTube channel Asteroid Station, the space rock can be seen as it moves towards Earth. According to the video and the database of NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), 2000 QW7’s close approach to the planet will take place on Sept. 14 at 7:54 pm EDT.

Fortunately, the asteroid will not collide with Earth during this date. Instead, 2000 QW7 will fly from a distance of 0.03564 astronomical units or about 3.3 million miles from Earth’s center.

As noted by CNEOS, the asteroid is currently traveling at a speed of 14,361 miles per hour. It is estimated to be 2,133 feet long, making it bigger than the Burj Kalifa in Dubai, which is known as the tallest manmade structure in the world.

Due to its massive size, the asteroid is capable of creating a crater that’s 4 to 6 miles wide if it hits Earth. The impact event would cause a blast radius that would span several miles away. Given the level of destruction it can cause, 2000 QW7 can certainly wipe out an entire city if it collides with the planet.

According to CNEOS, 2000 QW7 is classified as an Amor asteroid. Like other asteroids from this family, 2000 QW7 has a very wide orbit around the Sun and Earth. Unlike other asteroids, Amors do not intersect with the orbit of the planet.

Despite this, 2000 QW7 is still labeled as a potentially hazardous asteroid. Although it won’t hit Earth next month, there’s a chance that this asteroid might collide with the planet in one of its future approaches.

An impact event between Earth and 2000 QW7 can happen due to several factors in space. As most scientists believe, the path of asteroids can be altered by the gravitational pull of nearby planets, which means 2000 QW7 could one day end up on a collision course with Earth.