Asteroid warning AGAIN! Earth-threatening space rock spotted by NASA

Nearly 100 tons of dust-sized particles are bombarded towards Earth every day. Once a year, a vehicle-sized asteroid hits Earth's atmosphere, creating a giant fireball although it burns up before reaching the surface. According to NASA, every 2000 years, an asteroid the size of a football field hits Earth and causes significant damage to the area. If you’re wondering about planet-killing asteroids, they come along only once every few million years. NASA has warned that an asteroid is headed for Earth.

Asteroid 2013 SL20 key details

NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office has issued an alert against an asteroid named Asteroid 2013 SL20. The 140 feet wide asteroid is expected to fly past Earth closely today, October 14, at a distance of 2.4 million kilometers. The asteroid is already on its way towards Earth, travelling at a staggering speed of 43812 kilometers per hour. NASA has issued a warning classifying the Asteroid 2013 SL20 as a “Potentially Hazardous Object” due to the close proximity with which it will pass by Earth. Although it will not collide with Earth, a slight deviation in its trajectory due to the Earth’s gravitational pull can send it towards Earth for an impact.

According to the-sky.org, Asteroid 2013 SL20 was discovered on September 25, 2013. It belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids and orbits the Sun in around 411 days. During this orbit, the asteroid’s farthest point from the Sun is at a distance of 227 million kilometers and its nearest point is 97 million kilometers.

How is an Asteroid Orbit Calculated?

An asteroid's orbit is computed by finding the elliptical path about the sun that best fits the available observations of the object using various space and ground-based telescopes such as NASA’s NEOWISE telescope and its brand-new Sentry II algorithm. That is, the object's computed path about the sun is adjusted until the predictions of where the asteroid should have appeared in the sky at several observed times match the positions where the object was actually observed to be at those same time.