NASA is currently monitoring a plane-sized asteroid set to zoom past the Earth on August 22 at a speed of around 18,678 mph.
The space rock—known as “2023 PX”— is about 73 feet across and is set to make its closest approach to Earth today at a cosmically slight distance of just 577,000 miles, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
2023 PX is not the only asteroid that will be in the vicinity of our planet today. NASA is also tracking a house-sized asteroid known as 2025 QY, which is around 45 feet in diameter, as well as another plane-sized one called 2025 QE2, which is about 110 feet in diameter.
2025 QY is due to make its closest approach at around 1,790,000 miles from the Earth, while 2025 QE2 will only get to within 4,070,000 miles from our planet.
getty images
Two more space rocks are expected to do a flyby of Earth over the weekend. On August 23, a plane-sized asteroid known as 2025 PR, about 76 feet across, will make its closest approach at a distance of 4,200,000 miles.
The following day, another plane-sized asteroid known as 2019 QQ6, about 97 feet wide, will pass within 2,240,000 miles.
What Would Happen if an Asteroid Were To Hit the Earth?
According to NASA, tiny asteroids actually do impact our planet from time to time, but they usually pose no hazard to life on Earth.
Depending on the asteroid’s size, its impact can pose different levels of threat to our planet.
Space rocks that measure around 30 feet or less impact Earth about once in a decade, and usually only cause a very bright fireball, and a strong sonic boom, although they may break some nearby windows too.
Those measuring 160 feet only impact Earth about in 1,000 years, with the potential of causing local devastation and creating an impact crater.
Larger asteroids over 500 feet can cause death across metro areas and states depending on the impact location, says NASA, adding that they only hit the Earth about once in 20,000 years.
Asteroids that could cause global devastation are those measuring over 3,000 feet, which statistically hit the Earth about every 700,000 years. An impact of this sort could possibly cause the collapse of our civilization.
Then there are space rocks that are over 6 miles across, which only impact our planet once every 100 million years, but are likely to cause mass extinctions of life, according to NASA.
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