Scary! 48-foot Asteroid hurtling towards Earth, says NASA; will come terrifyingly close

Asteroid 2022 VL1 is hurtling towards Earth at an astonishing speed of 31306 kmph. Should you worry? Know what NASA says.

NASA has flagged an asteroid that will make a close approach to Earth today. (Pixabay)

Planet-killer asteroids careen around the solar system, in the neighbourhood of the Earth, almost on a daily basis. To determine the potential danger from these space wanderers, scientists constantly hunt for any sizable ones that may pose a threat to Earth. Already, NASA has built up a massive database of thee asteroids called near-Earth objects (NEOs). The idea is to find the asteroid that may be heading straight for a collision course with the Earth. And the endeavour is to keep a constant eye on all these asteroids in order to quickly find out if any one of them has had a slight deviation from its orbit and is now getting dangerously close to Earth. NASA hopes to provide an early warning for any such asteroid. And now, NASA has warned of a potentially hazardous asteroid today.

These asteroids don't even need to be large to hit the Earth! Small in size asteroids can be potentially hazardous too, just like this upcoming asteroid named 2022 VL1. NASA's prediction says that it will come extremely close to the Earth. Should you worry? Know all details here.

Asteroid 2022 VL1 hurtling toward Earth

NASA's JPL keeps sharing information about all the upcoming potentially hazardous asteroids which pose a threat to Earth. Asteroid 2022 VL1 which is just 48-foot or 15 meters in size is flagged as a potentially hazardous asteroid, and the reason is, its close proximity. NASA's JPL Asteroid Watch says, it will trespass into the Earth's solar system neighborhood and it will come terrifyingly close. This asteroid today will come as close as just 282000 miles (0.282 million miles).

NASA's Asteroid Watch dashboard says the asteroid that approaches within 4.6 million miles or 7.5 million kilometers of Earth and measures larger than about 150 meters in size is known as a potentially hazardous asteroid. Hence, Asteroid 2022 VL1 is a potential threat. It is also moving at an astonishing speed of 31306 kmph, which is almost double the speed of a Hypersonic Missile at 14760 km per hour.