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An enormous asteroid four time the size of the Empire State Building is headed towardEarth — and you’re able to look out live as it hiss harmlessly through the night sky .
The asteroid , dubbed7335 ( 1989 JA ) , orbitsthe sunonce every 570 days or so , from time to time swoop up a footling too close to Earth for astronomer ' comfort . On Friday ( May 27 ) , the tilt will drop within about 2.5 million mi ( 4 million kilometers ) of our planet — or well-nigh 10 time the average aloofness between Earth andthe moonat about 10:26 a.m. EDT ( 2:26 UTC ) . That ’s too far away to witness with the naked eye , but you might be able to spot it with a really powerful telescope , according to CNET . Or you could see the asteroid pass on by live on theVirtual Telescope Project ’s web site . The stream begins on Thursday ( May 26 ) at 9:00 p.m. EDT ( Friday , 1:00 a.m. UTC ) .
While all computing point to a clear miss , NASAhas labeled theasteroid"potentially hazardous , " due to its enormous size of it ( 1.1 . miles , or 1.8 km , in diam ) and relatively secretive proximity to our planet ’s orbit . It will be the large asteroid to make a close approach to Earth all yr , accord to NASA , and the distance rock is estimated to whiz by at about 47,200 mph ( 76,000 kilometer / h ) — or 20 metre faster than a hummer go off from a rifle .
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Asteroid 7335 ( 1989 JA ) wo n’t make another closemouthed flyby until June 23 , 2055 , when it will lapse about 70 times farther away from Earth than the moon .
This asteroid is one of more than 29,000 near - Earth objects ( NEOs ) that NASA traverse each year . NEO refers to any astronomical object that will pass within about 30 million mile ( 48 million km ) of Earth ’s celestial orbit . Most of these object are extremely small ; 7335 ( 1989 JA ) standard bombastic than about 99 % of NEOs that NASA follows , the agency said .
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7335 ( 1989 JA ) is also an Apollo - class asteroid — a categorisation that refer toasteroids that orb the sunshine while periodically crossing Earth ’s range , Live Science previously report . Astronomers know of about 15,000 such asteroids .
Asteroid 7335 ( 1989 JA ) is count potentially hazardous because it could do tremendous damage to our planet if its orbit changes in a agency that puts the rock music on a collision course with Earth . Beyond monitoring any space rocks that pose a potential threat , NASA has also begun test the hypothesis of knocking a potentially hazardous asteroid off line using Eruca sativa plunge from Earth .
In November 2021 , NASA launched a ballistic capsule call the Double Asteroid Redirection Test ( DART ) , which will clash head - on with the 530 - groundwork - wide ( 160 beat ) Dimorphos asteroid in fall 2022 . ( Dimorphos is not on a collision course with Earth , but it is close enough and magnanimous enough to be a tempting quarry for the mission).The hit wo n’t ruin the asteroid outright , but itmay change the rock and roll ’s orbital path slightly , Live Science antecedently reported .
Originally put out on Live Science .
