NASA asteroid tracker: 650ft asteroid hurtling for 'Earth approach' at 16,000MPH THIS WEEK - Express.co.uk

The imposing asteroid, dubbed by NASA Asteroid 2019 DN, is headed for a so-called “Earth Close Approach”. NASA’s asteroid-tracking systems expect the asteroid to swing by the Earth on Friday, March 8. NASA scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have narrowed this flyby down to 4.19pm GMT (UTC). When this happens, the asteroid will dash through space at hair-raising speeds of 7.27km per second or 16,262mph.

This means the asteroid is hurtling through space at more than 21-times the speed of sound.

And if that was not terrifying enough, NASA’s preliminary scans reveal Asteroid DN measures somewhere in the range of 295ft to 656ft (90m to 200m) in diameter.

At the upper end of NASA’s estimate, is an asteroid taller than the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Statue of Liberty and Big Ben’s clock tower in London.

It would take about 20 London double-decker bus lined up in a row to match the asteroid in width.

Even towards the lower end of NASA’s estimate, Asteroid DN is still about 20-times longer than a Volkswagen Beetle car and 45-times as long as a Queen Size bed.

But hopefully, none of this will matter on Friday when the asteroid safely skims the Earth’s corner of space without hitting the planet.

Asteroid DN is a prime example of a “Near-Earth Asteroid” (NEA) or “Near-Earth Object” (NEO).

NEOs are all asteroids and comets (NECs) on orbital paths which cut into the Earth’s own journey around the Sun.

Occasionally these asteroids swing by our home planet close enough to be detected but rarely do they actually hit Earth.

NASA explained: “Very few of these bodies are potential hazards to Earth, but the more we know and understand about them, the better prepared we will be to take appropriate measures if one is heading our way.

“Knowing the size, shape, mass, composition and structure of these objects will help determine the best way to divert a space rock found to be on an Earth-threatening path.”

NASA first observed Asteroid DN’s close approach on February 26 2019, meaning it has been discovered in the last two weeks.

But based on the asteroid’s approach vector, NASA can calculate just how close the space rock will flyby and whether or not it will make close passes again in the future.

On Friday, Asteroid DN will flyby form a distance of around 3.22 million miles (5.18 million km).

This is roughly the equivalent of 0.03465 astronomical units (au), where one au measures 93 million miles (149.6 million km) – the distance from Earth to the Sun.

This is approximately the equivalent of 13.49 Lunar Distances (LD) or 13.49-times the space between Earth and the Moon.

The asteroid is not expected to fly past the Earth again in the near future.

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