According to data from NASA’s Centre for Near Earth Studies, asteroid 2014 SD224 will come within 0.02019 astronomical units of the Earth’s surface. If that sounds uncomfortably close and gets you wanting to book the next ticket to Mars, don’t worry – in layman’s terms that’s nearly 1.9 million miles.
An asteroid larger than the Statue of Liberty will fly past our planet at 20:20 GMT on Christmas Day, NASA said.
The asteroid has a diameter between 92 and 210 metres – more than twice the size the Statue of Liberty which is nearly 93 metres high.
Called 2014 SD224, it will come within 0.02019 astronomical units, or nearly 1.9 million miles, from the Earth’s surface. While flying past Earth, it will be travelling at a speed of 10 kilometres per second, 30 times the speed of sound.
According to the space agency, this asteroid is classified as a near-Earth object although it will be located almost eight times further out than the Moon.
This “Christmas” asteroid is not expected to cause any damage, astronomers say, adding that its flight can be tracked on NASA’s website.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
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