New Delhi: According to a report of US space agency NASA, a large asteroid with an estimated size of 2000 feet is expected to fly past Earth on April 19. The asteroid was discovered nearly three years ago.
The large space rock known as 2014 JO25 will fly by Earth at a safe distance of about 1.1 million miles, or about 4.6 times the distance from Earth to the moon.
NASA also confirmed that, “Although there is no possibility for the asteroid to collide with our planet, this will be a very close approach for an asteroid of this size.
The closest this asteroid has come to Earth for at least the last 400 years and will be its closest approach for at least the next 500 years, according to scientists.
The next known encounter of an asteroid of comparable size will occur in 2027 when the half-mile-wide asteroid 1999 AN10 will fly by at one lunar distance.
The asteroid will approach Earth from the direction of the sun and will become visible in the night sky after April 19.
