Giant rock hurtling through space set for close encounter with Earth
An asteroid about half the length of the Sydney Harbour Bridge is hurtling towards Earth and is set to skim past the planet in just over two weeks, NASA says.
Named 2000 QW7, the asteroid will be travelling 23,100km/h when it passes Earth on September 14 from a safe distance of about 5.3 million kilometres.
While it’s considered a relatively close encounter, 2000 QW7 will cruise past from about 13.87 times the distance between Earth and the moon, according to Live Science.
Objects are considered near-Earth if they pass within 149.6 million kilometres of the planet, the distance from Earth to the sun..
The asteroid orbits the sun just like Earth, and last approached us on September 1 in 2000.
Another slightly smaller asteroid, 2006 QV89, is set to pass Earth on September 27 having not been sighted for 13 years before July.
The 30-metre rock had been too distant and faint to be sighted, but was visible through NASA’s Center for NEO Studies (CNEOS) telescopes in July and August.
Its uncertain projection towards Earth was cause for concern, with it known to be travelling towards our planet having not been seen since 2006.
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