Danger! Humongous asteroid coming dangerously close to Earth today

A massive asteroid is speeding towards the Earth today. Will the asteroid hit or miss the planet? Here’s what NASA has to say.

Check out what NASA says about the scary Asteroid 2020 PT4 which is set to pass very close to Earth today, September 15. (Pixabay)

Last 2 days have broken the pattern of asteroid flybies that were happening every day. There was no asteroid posing a threat to Earth yesterday, but one is coming today, and it is huge. NASA has warned that a humongous asteroid, named Asteroid 2020 PT4 is heading dangerously towards Earth. NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office is responsible for monitoring the skies and keeping a watch on various Near-Earth Objects (NEOs). If any celestial object is at risk of Earth impact, it red flags and issues the alert.

The Asteroid 202 PT4 has also been red flagged by NASA. Although the asteroid is not heading for impact with Earth, it was still classified as a Potentially Hazardous Object due to the close proximity with which it will pass by Earth. Asteroids which come closer than 8 million kilometers to Earth's orbit are classified as potentially hazardous asteroids, according to NASA.

Asteroid 2020 PT4 heading for Earth today, September 15

The Asteroid 2020 PT4 will just miss Earth on September 15, which is today at a distance of 7.1 million kilometers at a staggering speed of 39,024 kilometers per hour. The asteroid is nearly the size of a commercial aircraft with a width of nearly 120 feet. This asteroid does not pose any threat to Earth and will pass the planet safely though. However, it was still classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid due to the close proximity of its encounter with Earth and on the off-chance it may deviate from its path for any reason.

Asteroid 2020 PT4 is part of the Apollo group of asteroids. According to the-sky.org, this asteroid takes almost 734 days to complete one orbit of the Sun, during which its farthest distance from the Sun is 355 million kilometers and nearest distance is 122 million kilometers.

Did you know?

NASA's Juno probe is all set to conduct a close flyby of one of Jupiter's moons which has more water than Earth. The Juno Probe will make a very close approach with Europa, which is one of Jupiter's moons on September 29. The Juno probe will send data and images back to Earth following its close encounter with the help of its JunoCam instrument.

NASA's Juno Mission is a long-term mission to understand the weather and the dynamics of the largest planet in our solar system, Jupiter, which will allow further understanding of the behaviour of different exoplanets in different solar systems.