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The fast asteroid is currently heading towards our planet's origin on a trajectory called "near approach to the Earth". NASA scientists have dubbed the imposing rock Asteroid 2019 FT2, which was spotted for the first time on March 31. The US Space Agency is now waiting to see the asteroid rocking near the Earth after 19:00 (18:00 UTC). This moment will mark the closest possible approach of the asteroid towards the Earth on its orbit of the Sun.
Later in the evening, around 9.51 m TSB (20:51 UTC), NASA also predicted that FT2 would almost brush the moon a little further away.
But how far from Earth should the asteroid arrive today?
According to its most likely approach vector, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California estimates an approach from 0.00604 astronomical units (AU).
An astronomical unit is the measure of the distance between the Sun and the Earth, which is about 149 million kilometers.
READ MORE: How often do asteroids hit Earth?
The asteroid FT2 will dramatically reduce this distance tonight to only 561,453 miles (903,571 km).
In other words, this equates to 2.35 times the distance from the Earth to the Moon, a unit of measure called Lunar Distance (LD).
Then, in the late evening, the asteroid will approach the Moon at a distance of 0.00428 to or 640,278.9 miles (397,850.86 miles).
And if that is not terrifying enough, NASA estimates that the space rock falls in space at a rate of 27.08 km per second or 97888 km / h (60,576 mph).
READ MORE: NASA plans to save the Earth by derailing a 2,600-foot asteroid system
At this speed and at an estimated size of 32 meters, the asteroid represents an extremely formidable threat to take into account.
Fortunately, NASA does not believe that FT2 will approach Earth enough to sound the alarm at any time in the foreseeable future.
According to the space agency, FT2 will approach Earth again on April 5, 2024, which could be the last time we will see the rock.
Before that happens, the asteroid will also switch by Venus on December 20, 2020.
READ MORE: Watch the main asteroid DESTROY Earth in violent accident simulation
So why is NASA watching the asteroid fly over tonight?
The FT2 asteroid is an excellent example of a so-called "near-Earth object" or NEO.
All NEOs are comets and asteroids on orbital trajectories cutting the path of the Earth around the Sun.
From time to time, NEOs cross the Earth's orbit very closely and are captured by asteroid tracking radars on Earth.
NASA explained, "The scientific interest for comets and asteroids is due in large part to their relatively unchanged debris status of the solar system formation process some 4.6 billion years ago. .
"The giant outer planets – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune – formed from an agglomeration of billions of comets and the fragments left behind of this formation process are the comets we see today.
"Similarly, today's asteroids are the debris left by the initial agglomeration of inner planets, which include Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars."
Being able to follow the path of an asteroid with great certainty is also a crucial part of Earth's defense in the event that a killer asteroid is heading straight for us.
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