This massive, 370-foot asteroid set to come within 3.8 mn miles of Earth today, says NASA
Dubbed as Asteroid 2024 FH2, this space rock will get as close as 3.8 million miles to Earth.
After a string of smaller, under 50-foot, asteroids sailed safely past Earth over the recent weeks, US space agency NASA reveals that some huge space rocks are heading Earth’s way now. Among them is an asteroid that is a humongous 370-foot giant and it is well on way to making its closest approach to Earth on April 7.
It has been dubbed as Asteroid 2024 FH2 and it will get as close to 3.8 million miles of Earth. At 370 feet, it is as big as a building. However, before you get all worried about its orbit, do know that NASA has indicated that it poses no threat to Earth and that it will sail past our planet and back into the solar system.
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NASA keeps releasing the latest information to the public about these space rocks that come visting every now and then. The intention is to spread greater knowledge about space and what potential dangers it may hold. Notably, asteroids have altered the history of the world irretrievably according to a prevalent theory that suggests a massive asteroid struck Earth some 65 million years ago and it caused the extinction of dinosaurs. The dinosaurs were the dominant species then and their disappearance ensured that the smaller ones, especially mammals had a much better chance of survival. And now, Earth is ruled by mammals - humans.
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To ensure no such event happens again, NASA not only tracks these asteroids on a daily basis, it also has carried out tests to actually deflect any such killer asteroid that may appear over the horizon in the futute.
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This was known as DART (Double Asteroid Re-direction Test), during which NASA crashed its spacecraft into an asteroid (which was harmless and was not coming anywhere near Earth) in order to see if it could deflect it away from its orbit. The test was a massive success as the asteroid was pushed out of its orbit, changing its flight path forever.
