NASA alert! 87-foot asteroid hurtling towards Earth TODAY at 17235 kmph,

A giant 87-foot asteroid is set to make a close approach to Earth at a blistering speed of 17235 km per hour.

NASA has warned about a giant potentially hazardous space rock that is speeding towards Earth. (Pixabay)

Despite the fact that there are a huge number of asteroids in space, they seldom pose a threat to Earth. Even when they approach the planet for a close encounter, the majority of them burn up in the atmosphere, causing no harm to Earth. But history bears evidence that once a monster rock hits the planet, the consequences can be like a nightmare! Chicxulub impact - the asteroid strike around 66 million years ago, is one of those examples.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has released an alert regarding a huge asteroid known as 2023 GF2 that is rapidly approaching Earth and will come dangerously close. This potentially hazardous asteroid, which measures 87 feet, is predicted to pass close to Earth on April 30. NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office issues an alert and raises a red flag for any Near Earth Object (NEO) that comes within 4.6 million miles or 7.5 million kilometers of Earth. As per NASA, it remains to be seen whether this 87-foot-wide asteroid poses a threat to Earth.

Asteroid 2023 GF2 DANGER

As per the asteroid tracking data by NASA, Asteroid 2023 GF2 will fly past the Earth today, April 30 at a close distance of just 2.74 million miles. It is coming at a fiery speed of 17235 kmph.

The asteroid 2023 GF2 was detected only recently, on April 14, 2023 and it belongs to the Apollo group. Sky.org said that this asteroid makes one orbit around the Sun in 566 days.

Tech tracking asteroids

The Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at NASA is responsible for monitoring all known near-Earth objects to assess their potential impact risk. Scientists continue to scan the skies for unknown asteroids. NASA is actively researching and planning for ways to prevent or minimize the impact of a potential collision if one were to be discovered.

To detect the danger, NASA has established the NEO Observations Program, which is tasked with finding, tracking, and characterizing NEOs, and identifying those that may pose a hazard to Earth. Ground-based telescopes and NASA's NEOWISE spacecraft are currently used to locate NEOs.