A Mountain-Sized Asteroid Is Approaching Earth In April, But Don¡¯t Worry It Won¡¯t Hit Us

Last weekend we saw four asteroids pass by Earth, and in April we¡¯re going to see another asteroid fly us by, but while the four asteroids were relatively smaller, this one¡¯s nearly as tall as Mont Blanc in the Alps.

But there's no need to panic, this asteroid isn't going to hit the earth. No need to get anxious or afraid about this asteroid, amidst all the COVID-19 lockdown stress.

NASA

Asteroid 527 (1998 OR2) has been classified as a ¡®potentially hazardous object¡¯ by CNEOS (Center for Near-Earth Object Studies). However, even with this tag, this asteroid won¡¯t be bothering Earth.

The asteroid is roughly over four kilometres wide -- largest one seen this year till date. However, this asteroid is going to fly by at a distance of 6.3 million kilometres from the planet. In case you were thinking that¡¯s close, it isn¡¯t.

The asteroid is in-fact 16 times farther away than the moon -- it really is far, far away. So the chances of it hitting Earth are next to nothing. The asteroid 1998 OR2, will fly by us at 3:26 PM IST on April 29.

Even with its gargantuan size, it won¡¯t be visible to the naked eye. You¡¯ll need a telescope and clear skies to catch a glimpse of the massive celestial object flyby Earth.

NASA

It is very common for asteroids and meteors to fly by Moon or Earth and aren't really threatening. However, they are surely monitored as sometimes a few fragments tend to enter Earth's atmosphere, but they explode upon entry and result in shiny meteor showers.

Yet, they're always closely monitored for cataloguing the movement of near-earth objects flying around in our solar system.