A skyscraper-sized asteroid discovered two weeks ago will pass between Earth and the Moon on Saturday, June 29, 2024. Experts say it is greater than the height of a 40-story building or the Great Pyramid of Giza.
A massive asteroid will approach the earth PHOTO: Shuterstock
According to livescience, the space rock will pass within about 184,000 miles (295,000 kilometers) of our planet—about three-quarters of the average distance between the Earth and the Moon.
The asteroid, named 2024 MK, is estimated to be about 480 feet (146 meters) in diameter, which is greater than the height of a 40-story building or the Great Pyramid of Giza.
During its closest approach, it will travel at about 21,000 mph (34,000 km/h), according to NASA.
Although the heavy space rock is not a threat to Earth, NASA classifies it as one “potentially hazardous asteroid”because of its large size and its precarious orbit, which occasionally intersects that of our planet.
Shortly after its closest approach to Earth and the Moon this weekend, 2024 MK will once again drift away into the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and won’t return to our vicinity until 2037, according to NASA’s predictions.
NASA monitors the orbits of more than 35,000 near-Earth objects (NEOs), which are space rocks that come within 120 million miles (195 million km) of the sun, often crossing Earth’s orbit during their journey.
There are currently no known asteroids that pose a threat to our planet for at least the next 100 years.
The approach of 2024 MK comes just days after an even larger asteroid, named 2011 UL21, flew past our planet. Measuring between 1.7 and 3.9 kilometers wide, the mountain-sized object flew 6.6 million km from Earth, or 17 times the distance to the Moon.
