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A huge space rock bigger than ten canisters stacked in a row hurtles toward Earth.
NASA says the asteroid, scientifically named 2013 WV44, will fly by around 9am BST on Wednesday.
The diameter of the rock is estimated to be 160 meters, which is larger than both the London Eye (394 feet) and Big Ben (310 feet)..
It will travel at a speed of 11.8 km per second or more than 26,000 miles per hour – about 34 times the speed of sound.
Though it hurtles toward Earth, it will never get closer than 0.02334 astronomical units, or about 2.1 million miles.
Despite being about nine times farther away than the moon, the asteroid is classified as a Near-Earth Object (NEO) and is tracked by NASA.
The asteroid has an estimated diameter of 160 meters, which is larger than both the London Eye (394 feet) and Big Ben (310 feet).
“NEOs are comets and asteroids that have been pushed into orbits by the gravitational pull of nearby planets that allow them to intrude near Earth,” NASA said.
Composed primarily of water ice with embedded dust particles, comets originally formed in the cold outer planetary system, while most rocky asteroids formed in the warmer inner solar system between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
“Scientific interest in comets and asteroids is largely due to their status as the relatively unchanged remnant of the solar system’s formation process some 4.6 billion years ago.”
A NEO is defined as such when it comes within 1.3 astronomical units (AU) (120.8 million miles) of the Sun and thus within 0.3 AU (27.8 million miles) of Earth’s orbit.
Although 2013 will be WV44 at a distance of 2.1 million miles, this is relatively close in astronomical terms.
NASA lists it as one of the upcoming close approaches on its online tracker, which collects upcoming objects that are getting closer and closer to Earth.
An asteroid is defined as “potentially hazardous” if it comes within 0.05 astronomical units (4.65 million miles) of Earth and is larger than 459 feet (140 meters) in diameter.
Fortunately, 2013 WV44 doesn’t meet these specs, so it’s not considered potentially dangerous, but it could still get into our orbit.
Earth’s “Hill sphere,” the area around it where its own gravity is the dominant force attracting satellites, has a radius of 932,000 miles (0.1 AU).
At about 2.1 million miles or 0.02334 AU, 2013 WV44 should enter the Hill sphere.
As 2013 WV44 flies past Earth, it will travel at a speed of 11.8 km per second or more than 26,000 miles per hour – about 34 times the speed of sound (artist’s impression)
According to NASA, there are 32,254 known NEAs in our solar system (data correct as of June 24)
‘Although it’s not a PHA [potentially hazardous asteroid]”It’s relatively large,” said Japanese astronomer Atsuo Asami on Twitter.
Nearly all NEOs are near-Earth asteroids (NEAs), although there are also such things as near-Earth comets (NECs).
According to NASA, there are 32,254 known NEAs in our solar system — a figure that’s up from 30,000 since last October.
Of the total, more than 10,000 are estimated to be larger than 140 meters in diameter, and nearly 1,000 larger than 3,280 feet (1 km) in diameter – highlighting the need to keep track of these space rocks.
The first ever discovered NEA, called 433 Eros, has an average diameter of 10.4 miles (16.8 km).
It was first noticed by the German astronomer Carl Gustav Witt at the Berlin Observatory on August 13, 1898.
Known for its odd, elongated shape and stony composition, 433 Eros’s orbit puts it as close as about 21.5 million miles from Earth — 57 times the moon’s distance.
The largest NEA, called 1036 Ganymed – not to be confused with Jupiter’s moon of the same name – has a diameter of about 35 km.
“Fortunately, this gigantic body is known to always stay at a safe distance from Earth,” said Richard Moissl, head of planetary defense at ESA.
The largest known asteroid in the entire solar system, Ceres is 580 miles (more than 3 million feet) in diameter — big enough for humans to live on.
According to NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program, Earth is hit on average every 5,000 years by a rock the size of a football field and every million years by a civilization-ending asteroid.
During last year’s DART mission, NASA already showed how such a rock can be thrown out of a collision course with Earth by crashing a spacecraft into it.
DART launched from California in November 2021 – finally completing its ten-month journey when it hit the asteroid Dimorphos on September 26, 2022.
Dimorphos, with a diameter of about 170 meters, orbits a larger asteroid called Didymos, both of which are about 10.8 million kilometers from our planet.
Neither Dimorphos nor his Didymos pose any danger to Earth; rather, the $325 million (£298 million) mission was a rehearsal of what might be needed if a space rock one day threatens our planet.