Asteroid hurtling towards Earth, says Nasa! Dangerous? Find out

A frighteningly big Asteroid is hurtling through space, reveals Nasa and it is heading towards the Earth at mind-boggling speeds.

Chances of contact of Asteroid with our Earth are very low, says Nasa. (Representative image) (Pixabay)

A massive Asteroid with huge destructive potential is set to enter the orbit of the Earth and the date to watch out for is July 24, 2021. The Asteroid, which has been labelled as 2008 GO20, is 220 metres wide and the encounter with the Earth is set to be a close one. It is as big as two football fields put together. Such huge mass, combined with the momentum provided by the awe-inspiring speed at which it is travelling, give it shocking destructive powers in case of a collision. However, the Asteroid does not pose any danger to Earth.

What is an Asteroid? In effect, the Asteroid is nothing more than space rock shooting across space. An Asteroid is essentially a rock-like object that orbit the Sun. They are dark in colour usually and are considered to be the most ancient objects in the solar system.

When will this Asteroid fly past Earth? According to Nasa it will fly through the orbit of the Earth on Saturday, July 24 in Europe. In terms of Indian Standard Time, it will be very early on Sunday just after 1:00 am.

What are the chances of contact with Earth? Despite its near-Earth orbit, the chances of any contact between the Asteroid and the Earth are none to very low.

What is the speed at which this asteroid is travelling? Asteroid 2008 GO20 is travelling at the rate of 8km per second, or almost 18,000 miles per hour.

What is the fly-by distance? The asteroid will be flying at a distance of 28,70,847,607 km. It is some 8 times the Earth-Moon distance. That is why Asteroid is classified as a near-Earth object.

Near-Earth Objects - explained in brief: Some asteroids have orbital paths that take them close to our Sun. If the asteroid's approach brings it to some 1.3 astronomical units of the Sun, we call it a near-Earth object.