The US space agency, NASA has warned of a salvo of space rocks headed for Earth, with the biggest asteroid reaching 213 meters (almost 700 feet) in diameter.
The agency said that the “stadium-sized” asteroid 2020 XU6, travelling through space at a speed of 8.4 kilometres per second (over 30,000 kmph), will approach Earth on Monday. The giant boulder is expected to miss the planet by roughly four million kilometers – or two and a half million miles. Given that the circumference of the Earth is 40,075 kilometers, it would take the asteroid a little over an hour to complete a lap of the entire planet.
The #NearEarthObject #NEO (2020 XU6) is flying by at a distance of around 4,100,000 km (which is 11 Lunar Distances). It is travelling past at a speed of about 8.4 km/s. pic.twitter.com/fnAvB93d5m
— Near Earth Object close approach (@flybyneo) February 22, 2021
To put that into perspective, this asteroid is twice as tall as London’s Big Ben and two and a half times as tall as the Statue of Liberty.
The giant space rock will be followed shortly after by 2020 BV9 (23 meters), which will pass at a distance of 5.6 million kilometers, and 2021 CC5 (40 meters), which will pass at roughly 6.9 million kilometers.
