Huge asteroid bigger than the Empire State Building will pass Earth this weekend

An asteroid more than four times the size of the Empire State Building is due to come closer to Earth this weekend.

The space rock, called 2016 AJ193, will fly over our planet on August 21 at around 11:10 a.m. EDT.

When it does, it will move at a speed of about 26.1 kilometers per second, which equates to over 58,000 miles per hour, or about thirty times faster than a rifle bullet from the United States. NATO 5.56.

NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) estimates that 2016 AJ193 has a diameter of about 4,500 feet, but there is an uncertainty of about 1,300 feet on either side of that figure.

As a result, the 2016 AJ193 could potentially measure up to 5,800 feet in diameter, although it could also be much smaller. The Empire State Building, by comparison, is approximately 1,250 feet tall.

NASA classifies 2016 AJ193 as a potentially dangerous asteroid (PHA) due to its characteristics, but luckily it will not pose any risk to our planet this weekend.

CNEOS classifies an asteroid as potentially dangerous based on a number of factors, including its expected proximity to Earth and its estimated size.

While Saturday’s passage is considered a close approach by CNEOS, the 2016 AJ193 will actually pass our planet nearly nine times farther away from us than the moon.

It will then fly back into space in its highly elliptical orbit around the sun. The asteroid orbits the sun about every six years.

An orbital simulation from NASA shows that the asteroid briefly passes inside the orbit of Venus when it comes closest to the sun, but then moves further than Jupiter’s orbit.

As of August 15, CNEOS was aware of nearly 27,000 near-Earth asteroids. About 1,000 of these would be over 1 kilometer (3,280 feet) in height.

Tracking asteroids in this way allows scientists to predict a possible collision with Earth, potentially years in advance.

This would give researchers time to pull together international efforts to send a spacecraft towards the asteroid and, if possible, deflect it.

NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft, slated for launch later this year, is expected to demonstrate technology capable of deflecting asteroids.

Scientists have even considered using nuclear weapons to keep asteroids away from Earth if they pose a threat.

In any case, CNEOS states on its website that “the threat to a person from car accidents, illnesses, other natural disasters, and various other problems is much higher than the threat from NEOs (Near Earth Objects) “.