New Delhi:
Asteroid dubbed as ‘2006 QQ23’, which is even bigger than the Empire State Building, will be dangerously approaching towards the Earth next week. It is to be noted that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has labelled asteroid 2006 QQ23 as “potentially hazardous”. Don’t worry, the space rock will not collide with the Earth. Recently, many deadly asteroids including 2019 OK, 2019 OD, 2015 HM10, 2019 OE, 2019 NN3, 2019 MB4, 2019 MT2, 2006 QV89, 2016 NO56M, RF12 and others approached towards the Earth, fortunately did not hit our planet. Asteroids can bring tsunamis, shock waves and flattening winds that could be catastrophic. Asteroids are small, rocky objects that orbit the Sun. The space rocks (asteroids) approach towards the Earth due to the gravitational forces that affect them.
Coming back to the asteroid 2006 QQ23, the size of the space rock is 1,870 feet in diameter and it will fly past Earth on August 10, 2019. As the Empire State Building is 1,454 feet tall, 2006 QQ23 is around 36 stories larger than it. Yes, asteroid 2006 QQ23 is massive. However, there’s no need to panic as the space rock will come within about 4.55million miles of the Earth and will be whizzing past at 10,400 miles per hour. The space rock will not hit the Earth.
Also Read: Is Earth near extinction? 7 asteroids heading towards our planet THIS August, may hit us
Also Read: Supermassive black hole ‘V616 Monocerotis’ coming dangerously close to Earth: Will Earth survive?
Asteroid QQ23 is likely to pass Earth from 4.55million miles away may seem like it's no risk at all but any fast moving space object that comes within around 4.65 million miles is considered to be "potentially hazardous" by the space organisations.
It is worth mentioning here that this asteroid hasn't got this close to Earth since 2001. After its fleeting flypast next week, it is not expected to come near our planet again until February 15th 2022.
In the meantime, NASA has detected a total of seven asteroids that will be heading towards Earth this August. The gigantic asteroids are named as 2013 BZ45, 2018 PN22, 2016 PD, 2002 JR100 and 2019 OU1.
According to a report published by spacetelescope.org, there are more than 7 lakh asteroids that have been found in space. Asteroids are mainly found in an area called the ‘main belt’, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
