Gerrard Kaonga
Anxious about what kind of week you have ahead? Well, there are five massive asteroids on their way to Earth this week, so it might be worth just enjoying each day just in case.
NASA has confirmed that there are five asteroids hurtling towards our wonderful blue marble this week - one of which is estimated to be about the size of a football stadium.
But if you were already on your way to the supermarket to stock up on doomsday supplies, there isn’t any need to panic.
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While NASA’s Asteroid Watch department is tracking the space rocks, they do not believe any will come into contact with Earth.
The next five asteroids that are approaching Earth are all expected to pass the planet between January 30 and February 2, 2024.
The first, on January 30, is named 2007 EG and is about the size of an airplane at 130ft and will be the furthest of the five asteroids from Earth and will miss us by 3.8 million miles.
The second is about the size of a house at 62 ft, named 2024 BY and will fly by at 1.57 million miles on February 1.
The third approaching asteroid again is the size of an airplane at about 120 ft and is named 2003 BM4 and is set to miss the planet by just over 2 million miles on the same day as 2024 BY.
The giant of the group of asteroids, 2008, OS7 is a whopping 890 ft in size, so about the size of a football stadium and will fly by on February 2, missing us by 1.7 million miles.
The final asteroid, named 2024 BP1, will also fly by on February 2 and is estimated to be about the size of an airplane at 130 ft. Ultimately missing planet Earth by 2.1 million miles.
While there is no chance of impact from any of the asteroids, according to NASA, Asteroid Watch displays the next five Earth approaches to within 4.6 million miles.
Any an object larger than about 150 meters that can approach the Earth to or within this distance is termed a potentially hazardous object.
For context of just how close these asteroids are to Earth though, the average distance between Earth and the moon is about 239,000 miles.
So, you can sleep easy this week knowing we won’t have to yet live out your typical Hollywood doomsday film just yet.