NASA reported two huge asteroids will approach Earth in January 2022, and they are categorized as "potentially hazardous."
NASA Warning: Asteroid 2013 YD48 Is As Huge As The Great Big Ben
According to The Sun, an asteroid with the comparable size of the Great Big Ben is set to pass by Earth's atmosphere in January 2022.
The space rock, named Asteroid 2013 YD48, is about 104 meters broad or 340 feet and it will only pass Earth at a distance of 5,600,000 kilometers on January 11.
While that may seem like long-distance, it is close in space terms, per Lad Bible.
In relation to this, NASA explained that any space objects approaching within 120 million miles of Earth are classified as a Near-Earth Objects (NEO).
The Sun reported that the said space object is categorized as a possibly dangerous asteroid.
Moreover, the asteroid 2013 YD48 is presently being tracked on NASA's Asteroid Watch Dashboard.
"The dashboard displays the next five Earth approaches to within 4.6 million miles (7.5 million kilometers or 19.5 times the distance to the moon); an object larger than about 150 meters that can approach the Earth to within this distance is termed to as a potentially hazardous object," according to NASA.
To further emphasize, asteroid 2013 YD48 was discovered on December 29, 2013. Additionally, this asteroid belongs to the Apollo group.
The asteroid 2013 YD48 circles the Sun at a distance of 459 million kilometers from its aphelion (furthest point from the Sun), and a distance of 116 million kilometers from its perihelion (closest point to the Sun), per The Sky Org.
Furthermore, it seems that this asteroid made its appearance on our planet last January 15, 2014, at 7.71 million kilometers.
Apart from Asteroid 2013 YD48, another space object will come close to our planet..
Asteroid 7482: Two Times Bigger Than The Empire State Building
Another possibly dangerous asteroid will make one of its closest approaches to Earth, and it won't come near again for decades, per another report by The Sun.
The massive rock, known as Asteroid 7482 (1994 PC1), is around two-and-a-half times the height of the Empire State Building, but fortunately, it will only fly past Earth.
According to Nasa's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), it is expected to pass within 0.013 astronomical units of Earth. While this appears to be close, the distance is around 1.2 million miles away from our planet.
This calculation is five times the moon's distance from us.
However, since it is roughly 3,280 feet in diameter, the space debris is classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA).
Although labeling it as potentially hazardous makes it look threatening, this does not necessarily imply that it will hit the Earth.
With regards to its discovery, the asteroid was found for the first time in 1994 by R.H McNaught.
For those who are worried about these two asteroids, last March, NASA assured everyone that the Earth will be safe from an asteroid collision for at least the next 100 years.
Davide Farnocchia of NASA's CNEOS stated that a 2068 collision is no longer in the range of possibilities as "our calculations don't show any impact risk for at least the next 100 years," per NASA.
