524-foot Asteroid, larger than London Eye, to come scarily close after King Charles coronation

A monstrously large asteroid, which is as large as 524-foot, much bigger than the London Eye, is set to get very close to Earth just after the coronation of King Charles.

Asteroid 2023 HP1 has been dubbed as the Coronation asteroid. (AFP)

A massive and dangerous 524-foot Asteroid, which is estimated to be larger than the London Eye, is set to come terrifuyingly close to Earth just a day after King Charles coronation in the UK. The London Eye is 135 metres or 443 feet high.

It has been named as Asteroid 2023 HP1 by NASA and it is estimated to be travelling towards Earth at a fearsome speed of 11.6 km per second. The date of this scarily close approach is Sunday, May 7, 2023 and the time has been estimated at around 10.40pm.

How close will this gigantic asteroid get to Earth? The estimated distance has been calculated to about 6 million miles. While that may not seem as very close, but in terms of space, this is a minuscule amount and space agencies will be keeping a watchful eye on it for any deviations from its route.

NASA has a system by which it classifies asteroids that come near Earth. Any asteroid that approaches within 4.6 million miles or 7.5 million kilometers of Earth is considered as potentially hazardous. This also means Asteroid 2023 HP1 is considered potentially hazardous. Considering its massive size, an asteroid as big as this, if it were to strike a crowded place like a city, would cause carnage.

However, for all those who may be thinking about it, the asteroid is not going to disrupt the ceremony in any way at all, if it sticks to its current path.

How does NASA track asteroids?.

The US space agency has established the NEO (Near-Earth Objects) Observations Program, which finds, tracks, and characterizes NEOs, and identifies the ones that pose a hazard to Earth. NEOs are actually comets and asteroids that have been moved away from their paths by the gravitational attraction of nearby planets into orbits that allow them to enter the Earth's neighborhood, NASA explains.

Apart from ground-based telescopes, NASA's NEOWISE spacecraft are currently being used to locate NEOs. So, far, as many as 31,000 near-Earth objects have been identified, but new ones are being constantly added.