A huge asteroid the size of a skyscraper is flying toward Earth.

According to the American AerospaceNASA, at the end of this week, on Saturday, August 10, at a speed of 16,772 kilometers per hour, a very large asteroid will approach our planet. Scientists say the object is called 2006 QQ23 the size of a skyscraper. Its diameter is almost 600 meters. The media and the public are already starting to worry. But scientists say that there is no threat. The asteroid must fly past the Earth at a safe distance. In any case, the current calculations show this.

What is the size of the asteroid?

The exact size of the object is 569 meters. It was discovered in 2006. For comparison, the height of the American skyscraper Empire State Building is 443 meters (with a spire).

The comparative dimensions of the asteroid and the Empire State Building (left)

According to specialists Lindley Johnson and Kelly Fastfrom the NASA Planetary Defense Coordination Office, the distance between our planet and the asteroid at the closest point should be about 7.5 million kilometers. Therefore, nothing threatens the inhabitants of the planet. For comparison, the moon is 384,000 kilometers away, about 20 times closer.

</ p>

Scientists say they track similarcalled "near-Earth objects", among which are not only asteroids, but also comets, as well as their fragments, orbiting around the sun. By cosmic standards, 8 million kilometers, this is indeed a very short distance to the Earth. Therefore, such objects and scientists are called near-Earth.

What happens if an asteroid falls to Earth?

According to experts from NASA, each year pastat least 6 asteroids the size of 2006 QQ23 fly over our planet. If an object about 600 meters in size falls to the Earth, the consequences will be disastrous. Not globally, of course. But in the regional for sure. Falling into the water such a stone will be able to cause giant tsunamis. Consequences for cities located in coastal areas in the radius of the fall of the object will be unimaginable.

See also: What is the probability that an asteroid will fall to Earth?

At the moment, NASA scientists are aware ofthe existence of at least 900 near-Earth asteroids in our Solar System of more than one kilometer in size. But there are much more smaller space stones around our planet. The bill goes to the millions. And it creates very big problems. Compact asteroids are much more difficult to detect.

For example, the European Space Agency recently reported that just a week earlier, an asteroid the size of a football field had flown past Earth.

An asteroid flying past the Earth was the size of a football field.

The distance between our planet and the small celestialbody diameter of 100 meters was only 65 thousand kilometers, or 1/5 of the distance to the moon. What is interesting, they discovered him only at that moment when he was already very close to the Earth and began to move away from it. Scientists from the European Space Agency say that we are sorely lacking ground-based telescopes to effectively monitor near-Earth objects of such small size.

You can follow the latest news about space, including by subscribing to our Telegram channel.