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dottedhippo / iStock(NEW YORK) – After an asteroid flew over Earth on Friday, it is expected that another asterisk larger than the Empire State Building will be overtaken Saturday night.
2000 QW7, the asteroid of the size of a skyscraper, should whistle very early at 19:54. IS. NASA estimates that the object measures between 950 and 2100 feet. By comparison, the Burj Khalifa building in Dubai is 2,717 feet tall, the Shanghai tower is 2,073 feet high and the Empire State Building is 1,454 feet in the Manhattan skyline.
Friday's asteroid, ranging in size from 400 to 850 feet, safely crossed the Earth at 23:42. IS.
"These asteroids have been well observed – one since 2000 and the other since 2010 – and their orbits are well known," said Lindley Johnson, Global Defense Officer and Program Manager of the Coordination Office. NASA's global defense, in a statement. "These two asteroids pass about 14 lunar distances from the Earth, about 3.5 million kilometers, but small asteroids pass close to Earth at this distance."
NASA's near-Earth object observations program monitors 2000 QW7, but it should not pose a threat to the planet.
"Large asteroids pass through the earth several times a year and pose a threat only if they are supposed to come into direct contact with our planet," Johnson told ABC News.
"We have objects, asteroids of this size, that go less than 5 million kilometers from Earth six or seven times a year," Johnson told ABC News in August, while QQ23 in 2006 was less than 5 million kilometers.
NASA said it was tracking more than 20,000 objects close to the Earth – a figure likely to grow. Each week, NASA identifies an average of 30 new items.
Earlier this week, new research showed that the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs was as powerful as 10 billion atomic bombs.
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