NASA has revealed that a stadium-sized asteroid named 2023 MG6 will be passing by our planet today (July 16). The 910-foot asteroid will be making its closest approach on the day at a distance of 2.26 million miles.
Historical data provided by NASA shows the asteroid is no stranger to planetary flybys. It passed by Jupiter in 1943 and Earth in 1944.
The fast-approaching asteroid is reportedly travelling at a speed of 44,562 kilometres per hour. It is unlikely that the asteroid will be making an impact with Earth.
Multiple asteroids approaching Earth in 4-day period
NASA’s Asteroid Watch Dashboard has revealed that five asteroids are lined up to flyby Earth in a matter of four days. However, the others are not as large as the 2023 MG6 asteroid. An asteroid which has been named 2023 NY was supposed to make its closest approach to Earth yesterday (July 15). The 44-foot astroid’s closest approach distance was expected to be 2.75 million miles. Besides this, three airplane-sized asteroids are scheduled to make flybys on July 16, 18 and 19. All three asteroids are sized within the range of 100-190 foot.
About the Asteroid Watch Dashboard
NASA’s Asteroid Watch dashboard tracks asteroids and comets that will make relatively close approaches to Earth. It displays the date of the objects’ closest approach, approximate object diameter and relative size and distance from Earth. The dashboard shows the next five Earth approaches to within 7.5 million kilometres or 19.5 times the distance from Earth to the Moon. Any object which is larger than 150 metres and can approach our planet within the aforementioned distance is termed as potentially hazardous object. The average distance between Earth and the Moon is about 385,000 kilometers.