What are near-Earth asteroids and why do they pose a THREAT to our planet? Know the numbers

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What are near-earth objects? According to NASA, Near-Earth objects (NEOs) are comets and asteroids that have been moved by the gravity of nearby planets, causing them to travel in orbits that bring them close to Earth.

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Near-Earth objects (NEOs) are those space rocks that come closer than 30 million miles to the Earth's orbit. 

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As of June 29, NASA discovered over 32,266 near-earth asteroids of all sizes that had made a close approach of the Earth.

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853 asteroids with a diameter larger than 1 kilometre have been discovered so far. Another 50 remain to be found.

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There were 10,501 asteroids larger than 140 meters discovered during this period. But,14,000 more asteroids remain missing.

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100 tons of dust and sand-sized particles strike the Earth on a daily basis.

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Over 11 near-earth asteroids passed the Earth at a distance closer than the moon in the last 30 days.

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114  near-earth asteroids passed closer to Earth than the moon in the last 365 days.

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Around 399,000,000 near-earth asteroid observations were submitted to the minor planet centre.