The asteroid will fly beyond the Earth next Saturday

A newly discovered asteroid, larger than a house, should buzz safely after Saturday afternoon on Earth. NASA predicts that the 2018 VX1 will reach 237,000 miles. It is slightly below the average distance of the moon.

Spotted Sunday, it is thought that the Apollo-type asteroid is between 26 and 60 feet long. He will reach his approach close to our planet around 1:20 pm. AND Saturday.

The astronomers of the Mount Lemmon Survey were the first to see the space rock, according to the center of the minor planet of the International Astronomical Union. The asteroid will barrel to Earth at about 4 miles per second, compared to our planet, reported NASA.

You can watch the close approach in line with the virtual telescope project, which will broadcast the live asteroid from 1 pm. AND.

The 2018 VX1 is not the only asteroid to go to Earth Saturday. The 2018 VS1 and 2018 VR1 versions are set for flybys at 9:03 AM and 9:19 AM, respectively. Larger than the 2018 VX1, these planets will cross our planet safely over much greater distances.

2018 VS1 has a diameter between 40 and 90 feet, according to NASA estimates. The space rock should approach 862,000 miles from our planet and reach a relative speed of about 7 miles per second at a short distance.

Archival photo: a space rock heading towards the Earth with the impressions of this artist. Getty Images

It is believed that the 2018 VR1 is slightly larger than the VS1, with an estimated diameter of between 45 and 100 ft. It will travel to Earth at a speed of about 7 miles per second, reaching a close approach distance of 3,129,000 miles.

Although these asteroids are completely safe and pose no risk to life on our planet, space rocks can be deadly. There are tens of millions of years ago, it is thought that a giant asteroid crashed on Earth, triggering a series of cataclysmic events that killed the majority of animals and plants . Known as the Chicxulub asteroid, scientists believe that this massive extinction has claimed the lives of most dinosaurs.

More recently – and less catastrophically – space rocks have broken windows, damaged buildings and razed forests. The 1908 event in Tunguska would have caused an explosion a thousand times more powerful than the atomic bomb that devastated Hiroshima in 1945, reports NASA.

Just five years ago, a meteor exploded in the skies near Chelyabinsk, Russia, injuring approximately 1,500 people and damaging more than 7,000 buildings.