In Pics: 80-foot asteroid set to get scarily near Earth today! NASA issues warning

NASA has warned that this menacing asteroid is headed for Earth today and will get extremely close! Could this space rock impact Earth and cause cataclysmic damage? Here’s what NASA has to say about this relatively small, but hazardous, hazardous asteroid.

An asteroid is a terrifying rocky object out in space travelling at a massive speed and when seen in a telescope, it appears as a point of light, according to NASA. Most asteroids are found in a ring between the orbit of Mars and Jupiter called the Asteroid Belt. These celestial objects are the remains of the period during which our solar system formed, over 4.6 billion years ago. (Pixabay)

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1/6 An asteroid is a terrifying rocky object out in space travelling at a massive speed and when seen in a telescope, it appears as a point of light, according to NASA. Most asteroids are found in a ring between the orbit of Mars and Jupiter called the Asteroid Belt. These celestial objects are the remains of the period during which our solar system formed, over 4.6 billion years ago. (Pixabay)

NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office has red-flagged an asteroid named Asteroid 2022 UV5 due to its extremely close approach to the planet. The asteroid will make its closest approach to Earth today, October 26, at a distance of 4.2 million kilometers. (Pixabay)

2/6 NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office has red-flagged an asteroid named Asteroid 2022 UV5 due to its extremely close approach to the planet. The asteroid will make its closest approach to Earth today, October 26, at a distance of 4.2 million kilometers. (Pixabay)

It is already on its way towards the planet travelling at a speed of nearly 25524 kilometers per hour! Asteroid 2022 UV5 has a width of 80 feet, which is nearly the size of a commercial aircraft! (Pixabay)

3/6 It is already on its way towards the planet travelling at a speed of nearly 25524 kilometers per hour! Asteroid 2022 UV5 has a width of 80 feet, which is nearly the size of a commercial aircraft! (Pixabay)

According to the-sky.org, the Asteroid 2022 UV5 belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids. It was discovered recently on October 16. This asteroid takes 372 days to complete one trip around the Sun during which its maximum distance from the Sun is 176 million kilometers and nearest distance is 127 million kilometers. (NASA)

4/6 According to the-sky.org, the Asteroid 2022 UV5 belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids. It was discovered recently on October 16. This asteroid takes 372 days to complete one trip around the Sun during which its maximum distance from the Sun is 176 million kilometers and nearest distance is 127 million kilometers. (NASA)

NASA’s tech behind asteroid tracking - Most of the asteroids are observed with the help of the NEOWISE Project which repurposed NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer to work as a survey telescope and scan the sky for Near-Earth Objects. NASA then uses its ground-based radar to gather precise data about the asteroid’s path and its characteristics. (NASA)

5/6 NASA’s tech behind asteroid tracking - Most of the asteroids are observed with the help of the NEOWISE Project which repurposed NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer to work as a survey telescope and scan the sky for Near-Earth Objects. NASA then uses its ground-based radar to gather precise data about the asteroid’s path and its characteristics. (NASA)

NASA’s space-based telescope called NEOWISE has identified hundreds of others while scanning the skies at near-infrared wavelengths of light from its polar orbit around Earth. But the NEOWISE wasn’t always built for this purpose. It was a data retrieval project to get back asteroid detections and characteristics from WISE, a NASA observatory launched back in 2009. (Pixabay)

6/6 NASA’s space-based telescope called NEOWISE has identified hundreds of others while scanning the skies at near-infrared wavelengths of light from its polar orbit around Earth. But the NEOWISE wasn’t always built for this purpose. It was a data retrieval project to get back asteroid detections and characteristics from WISE, a NASA observatory launched back in 2009. (Pixabay)