Asteroid ‘size of Burj Khalifa’ set to collide with Earth’s orbit soon: All you need to know

Team Udayavani, Nov 28, 2020, 12:21 PM IST

A large asteroid, named (153201) 2000 WO107  will sweep past Earth in late November and the closest approach to Earth will happen on November 29, 2020.

The asteroid has a diameter of more than 500 m, and is over 800 m high – about the size of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building that measures 830 m. It was discovered in the year 2000, as per NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory website

NASA defines a Near-Earth Object (NEO) as any asteroid or comet coming within 1.3 AU of Earth. It is also listed as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA), which NASA defines “based on parameters that measure the asteroid’s potential to make threatening close approaches to the Earth”.

However, NASA has assured people that it is not a matter of concern as the asteroid won’t strike Earth. It has revealed that the space rock will be at least 6.3 million kilometres away from the Earth on its closest approach.

l it will be maintaining a distance of over 43 lakh km when it passes by the Earth, more than the distance between our planet and the Moon.