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A large asteroid, whose size is estimated to be about the same size as the Statue of Liberty, is expected to surpass our planet today, according to NASA's Center for Near-Earth Studies.
It is estimated that the space rock, known as the 2013 MD8, measures between 125 and 282 feet in diameter and travels at about 30 to 400 miles at the time (relative to the Earth).
NASA data suggest that the asteroid will be closest to 12:55 (ET), which could be within 3,604,826 miles of our planet. It may seem like a great distance, but in space it is relatively small, although there is no risk of collision.
Asteroids or comets whose orbits take them within 121 km of the sun, as well as about 30 million km from Earth, are classified as "Near Earth Objects" or NEOs .
In addition, NASA classifies as "potentially hazardous" NEOs with a (usually low) probability of collision with the Earth – that is, their expected minimum approach distance is less than 4. , 6 million miles – and are greater than 460 feet in diameter.
While objects collide with our planet all the time, the vast majority is small (a diameter of less than 30 feet) and burns in the atmosphere, so we do not even notice it.
But if a 460 – foot space rock struck the Earth, it would cause considerable damage to localized areas in the event of a land – based impact or tsunami that could severely damage the lowlands when it reached the ocean. . According to NASA, such impacts occur approximately once every 10,000 years, on average.
The impact of asteroids with a diameter of one kilometer or more, occurring every 100,000 years on average, would cause even more catastrophic destruction, thus damaging the environment on a global scale.
Some felt that the asteroid accused of having wiped out the dinosaurs had measured somewhere in the region of 6 miles in diameter.
At present, researchers know more than 18,000 Named Executive Officers, more than 1,800 of whom are considered potentially dangerous. And among the at-risk group, about 150 would be more than one kilometer in diameter.
Scientists believe that we have identified more than 90% of NEOs with a diameter greater than one kilometer because they are larger and therefore easier to detect. However, it is believed that many smaller objects are still not counted.
Although there are a handful of potentially dangerous objects that are unlikely to collide with the Earth in tens or even hundreds of years, the probabilities will likely drop as the monitoring stations make more observations, which allows a more accurate prediction of their trajectory.
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