NASA Asteroid WARNING: Three giant space rocks are heading to Earth today | Science | New



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The three space rocks will cross the planet in the next 30 minutes, the first to arrive around 15:13 BST (14:13 UTC) today.

Asteroids will arrive at similar times and NASA estimates that they have similar diameters but will fly at varying distances.

The first of the three, baptized Asteroid 2018 TU4, will approach 0.03637 astronomical unit (au) or 14.16 lunar distances.

The measurement of astronomical units is used by astronomers to describe the distance between the Earth and the Sun – more than 92.95 million miles (149.59 million km).

Today, the asteroid TU4 will reduce this distance to 5.4 million kilometers (3.48 km), or 14.16 times the distance from the Earth to the Moon.

NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) call this approach an "Earth Close" approach.

Earth Close Approaches approach NEO (Near-Earth Objects) objects within a radius of 0.45 million miles (7.47 million km) from the Earth.

NEOs are all described as asteroids or comets that can approach the Earth.

ESA explained: "In general, they are defined as asteroids or comets whose perihelion distance is less than 1.3 ua."

The space agency estimates that dozens of asteroids are getting closer to the planet every day.

California-based NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) said the UT4 ​​was 21 to 48 meters in diameter.

An asteroid of this size could cause serious damage during the impact, just like the Chelyabinsk meteor in 2013, which injured about 1,000 people.

NASA calculates that the asteroid will fly at a speed of 24,561.56 mph or 10.98 km per second.

The next asteroid to pass on Earth is the asteroid SL3 around 15:36 BST (14:36 ​​BST).

The asteroid measures somewhere between 82.02ft and 187ft (25m and 57m)

NASA predicts that it will reach a nominal distance of 0.02319au (3.45 million km) from the Earth.

Astronomers believe that the asteroid is heading into space at a speed of 30 0042 mph (13.43 km to the hour).

Finally, the asteroid 2018 TS1 will approach the Earth today around 15:45 CET (14:45 UTC).

The spatial rock is between 20 and 45 meters in diameter.

NASA said that TS1 would be within 0.01693 Earth, or 6.59 lunar distances.

The distance is roughly equivalent to 2.5 million kilometers.

The asteroid flies in the empty space at a dizzying speed of 24,449.7 mph (10.93 km per second).

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