‘Potentially Hazardous Asteroid’ Heading Towards Earth

Bhubaneswar: NASA on Saturday issued a warning about a ‘potentially hazardous asteroid’ heading towards the Earth.

According to NASA, the asteroid is of the size of a Golden Gate Bridge and is predicted to brush past the Earth.

Designated as 363027 (1998 ST27), the asteroid orbits the Sun every 271 days and comes as close as 0.39 AU, reaching as far as 1.25 AU from the sun, as per a report in Economic Times.

The asteroid, which is 0.6 km in diameter, is larger than 97 per cent of asteroids.

To ensure Earth’s safety, NASA’s JPL continuously scans the skies for ‘potentially hazardous asteroids’ and keeps tracking their paths.

Asteroids can collide with the Earth and can significantly modify its biosphere as it has done in the past.

As the asteroid will pass at a distance of 3,561,149 km from the Earth, there is no imminent threat from it.