Heads Up: NASA warns of STADIUM-SIZED asteroid headed towards Earth

[G.L.R.]

NASA warns of STADIUM-SIZED asteroid headed towards Earth     

21 Feb, 2021

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  The US space agency is warning of a salvo of space rocks headed  for Earth, ranging in size from a paltry 10 meters in diameter all the  way up to a positively petrifying 213.When not keeping a close  eye on its Perseverance rover, which touched down on Mars this week,  NASA is busy monitoring the sky for potential threats to life on Earth –  namely asteroids. And this week is no exception, as five such space  rocks are due to buzz the planet we call home. On Sunday, the 10-meter asteroid 2021 DD1 and the 61-meter asteroid  2021 DK1 will shoot past Earth at a safe distance of 1.6 million  kilometers and six million kilometers, respectively.

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However, they are just the warm-up act for what NASA describes as the "stadium-sized"  asteroid 2020 XU6, which measures some 213 meters in diameter. To put  that into perspective, it's twice as tall as London's Big Ben and two  and a half times as tall as the Statue of Liberty.  2020 XU6 is  travelling at a speed of 8.4 kilometers per second or 30,240 kilometers  an hour. Given that the circumference of the Earth is 40,075 kilometers,  it would take the asteroid a little over an hour to complete a lap of  the entire planet.  Mercifully, however, the space rock is expected to miss us by roughly  four million kilometers when it flies by on February 22, so humanity  can breathe a collective sigh of relief for now.

NASA warns of STADIUM-SIZED asteroid headed towards Earth — RT World News
https://www.rt.com/news/516215-stadium-sized-asteroid-nasa-warning