NASA Asteroid Warning: 200-foot Asteroid Near Earth Approach | Science | New

The asteroid, christened Asteroid 2009 WB105, will approach the planet just after noon on November 25th. NASA scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, expect WB105 to appear around 12:14 pm (GMT). . It is estimated that the cylindrical asteroid measures between 173 and 393.7 feet (53 to 120 m) in diameter.

An asteroid 393.7 feet wide is about 1.25 times larger than London's Big Ben clock tower and 1.29 times taller than the New York Statue of Liberty.

At the same time, space rock dominates St. Paul's Cathedral and is only 15 meters shorter than the London Eye.

Even the smallest estimate of NASA gives the image of an incredibly formidable asteroid.

With a diameter of 200 meters, the asteroid is larger than Nelson's column in Trafalgar Square, London, and is about as high as the leaning tower of Pisa in Italy.

Much smaller asteroids caused considerable damage and injury when impacted with the Earth.

For example, the Chelyabinsk meteorite in Russia in 2013, which injured about 1,500 people, is estimated to be about 20 meters in diameter.

The meteor injured the inhabitants of Chelyabinsk after the explosion over the city and the shockwave blew up the windows in a large radius.

According to Dr. Bruce Betts, The Planetary Society, space rocks of this magnitude typically strike once or twice a century.

He said: "Small asteroids – a few meters – hit frequently and burn in the atmosphere and cause little damage.

"Asteroids the size of Chelyabinsk – about 20 m hit in 2013 – create shock waves that break windows and cause injuries.

"The size of Tunguska – about 40 m that hit Siberia in 1908 – could completely destroy a city or create a tsunami. Larger asteroids, which strike less frequently on average, could cause regional destruction. "

Fortunately, the asteroid WB105 will not come close enough to hit Earth, but its trajectory is close enough for NASA to pay attention.

The asteroid WB105 is what is called a near Earth object (NEO) close to a narrow Earth approach.

The NEOs are all asteroids and comets that approach our world of origin with 50 million kilometers of its orbit.

READ MORE: Meteor shower 2018: The best showers to see by the end of the year – Orionides, Geminids and Leonids

Dr. Betts explained: "They are considered objects that could represent a potential danger for the Earth.

"NEOs consist of NEAs – Asteroids close to Earth – and NECs – comets close to Earth."

The asteroid followed by NASA should approach the planet at a distance of about 0.03893 astronomical unit (at) or 15.15 Lunar Distances (LD).

This equates to about 5.8 million km (3.6 million miles), more than 15 times the distance from Earth to the Moon.

READ MORE: Full moon of November: When is the full moon THIS WEEK? What time will it culminate?

For an average person, this may seem like a life, but astronomers realize that it is a close encounter on the cosmic scale of distances.

And despite the space, Dr. Betts said the Earth was big enough to attract space rocks from time to time because of its gravity.

"The more we discover and track Earth's asteroids, the closer we will be to responding in a more definitive way when the next damaging asteroid reaches Earth."

On Sunday, the asteroid WB105 will propel itself into space at a vertiginous speed of about 42,233 mph, or 18.88 km per second.

READ MORE: NASA Announcement: A superb space agency for a return to the Moon and Mars