This weekend, Earth will receive a visit from not one, but two skyscraper-sized asteroids. The approach begins today and, tomorrow, the second crosses the vicinity of the planet. These visits are already leaving astronomers with their eyes on the visitors.
The first space rock, dubbed CZ31 2016, will pass around zero hours this Saturday at a speed of 55,618 km/h, according to NASA.
High-speed asteroids passing Earth
Astronomers estimate that the asteroid measures about 122 meters across at its widest point, making it about 40 stories tall. The solar system visitor will safely miss our planet, passing about 2,800,000 kilometers from Earth – or more than seven times the average distance between Earth and the Moon.
As NASA explains, this space rock is slowly approaching Earth, with the next passage scheduled for January 2028.
Half an hour later, at 00:37 on Saturday, a second, even larger, asteroid will pass our planet, albeit at a greater distance from Earth. This asteroid, named 2013 CU83, measures approximately 183 m across at its widest visible point and will pass about 6,960,000 km from Earth, or about 18 times the average distance between Earth and the Moon.
This colossal space rock will pass in a blast at a speed of 21,168 km/h. Both of these close encounters are significantly further away than asteroid 2022 NF, which was within a radius of 90,000 km – or about 23% of the average distance between Earth and the Moon – on July 7th.
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