Get quick for the Last Day headlines , because next Wednesday , April 19 , an outstandingly with child asteroid is going to vaporize past Earth , the biggest to do so in 13 years .
The asteroid is called 2014 JO25 , and it was discovered in May 2014 by uranologist using the Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson , Arizona . It assess a banging 650 metre ( 2,000 feet ) across , big enough to do considerable scathe if it reach Earth – although still 20 times smaller than the asteroid that kill the dinosaur .
But , dread not . The asteroid will wing past at a aloofness of 1.8 million kilometers ( 1.1 million miles ) , which is about 4.6 times the distance from Earth to the Moon . While it ’s the closest approach for this asteroid in 400 year , and the closest it ’ll be for at least 500 years , there ’s essentially no possibility it will hit our satellite .
However , this is a rarefied close approach for an asteroid of this size . While pocket-size asteroid pass at this length several times every week , the last known asteroid of this size or larger to pass this finale was the 5 - kilometer - blanket ( 3.1 - international nautical mile - wide ) asteroid Toutatis in September 2004 .
“ Although there is no possibility for the asteroid to collide with our planet , this will be a very close approach shot for an asteroid of this size , ” NASA sound out in astatement . The next big asteroid to number tight will be the 800 - metre - blanket ( 2,600 - foot - wide ) 1999 AN10 in 2027 , passing one lunar distance ( 380,000 kilometers or 236,000 mil ) off .
An invigoration of the flyby on Wednesday , April 19
Fortunately , we know of no enceinte asteroids that have a fortune of hitting Earth in the foreseeable future . This tablefrom NASA has a handy list of the most probable impact . The most probable is 2017 FN128 , 520 metre ( 1,710 feet ) across , which has a 0.0000023 percent chance of come to us between 2054 and 2116 .
That does n’t entail we should take a breather easy . Many asteroids stay untracked , and the betting odds are we ’re going to be faced with a civilization - end asteroid at some dot in the next few millennia .
Initiatives likeAsteroid Dayaim to raise awareness of the threat of asteroids , while missions like the Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment ( AIDA ) might look at how to turn away an incoming asteroid , although that mission is currentlyup in aviation .
For the time being , though , there ’s not much to care about . Since this asteroid is extremely brilliant , about twice as broody as the surface of the Moon , stargazer will at least be studying it as it flies retiring to pick up more about it .
