650-foot asteroid dashing towards Earth! NASA tracks this monstrous space rock

A colossal 650-feet wide asteroid is set to make its closest approach towards Earth today, NASA has revealed. Does it pose any danger to the planet?

Asteroid 2023 CL3 belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids. (Pixabay)

Despite asteroids passing Earth closely almost every day, none so far have threatened our safety on Earth. But there isn't any guarantee against any space rock striking Earth. How big an asteroid would have to be to end all life? Well, NASA says that an asteroid with a diameter of around 96 kilometers (about half the distance from Washington, D.C. to New York City) can actually completely extinguish life on Earth, but smaller asteroids can still cause regional harm.

Although not quite as big, NASA has revealed that a colossal asteroid is set to make its closest approach to Earth today.

Asteroid 2023 CL3

Scientists are intrigued by Asteroid 2023 CL3, due to its colossal size. According to NASA, the asteroid is estimated to be roughly 650 feet wide, which is comparable in size to a towering skyscraper. Given its enormity, if Asteroid 2023 CL3 were to collide with the planet, it could cause immense destruction, particularly if it landed in a densely populated region.

As per the space agency, Asteroid 2023 CL3 is set to reach its nearest distance to Earth today, May 24, at a distance of 7.2 million kilometers. As a result, it has been added to NASA's Close Approaches list. While this distance may seem considerable, it's relatively minor in terms of astronomical measurements, considering the massive size of the asteroid.

In fact, Asteroid 2023 CL3 is already dashing towards Earth, at a fiery speed of 26387 kilometers per hour!

NASA tech used to study asteroids

NASA not only uses its space telescopes and observatories like the NEOWISE to observe and study distant asteroids, but also a variety of ground-based telescopes such as the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) located in the Antofagasta Region of the Atacama Desert in Chile.

NASA also has a new impact monitoring system in place which uses an algorithm called Sentry-II to calculate the impact risk of Near-Earth Objects. NASA can track the orbital path of the asteroid using this infrared data and can even predict its orbit years into the future. As of now, nearly 28,000 near-Earth asteroids have been discovered using various tech instruments which track objects in the sky.