A ‘potentially hazardous’ monster asteroid the size of Central Park is heading towards Earth at 67,000mph
The 2002 AJ129 asteroid has been classed a ‘potentially hazardous’ by Nasa
It will fly past on 4th February at speeds of 67,000mph (107,826kmh)
This makes it nearly 15 times faster than the world’s quickest manned aircraft
By PHOEBE WESTON
DAILYMAIL.COM
17 January 2018
A gigantic asteroid which is larger than the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, will hurtle past our planet in around two weeks time.
The 2002 AJ129 asteroid has been classed a ‘potentially hazardous’ by Nasa and will fly past at speeds of 67,000mph (107,826kmh).
This makes it nearly 15 times faster than the world’s quickest manned aircraft – the hypersonic North American X-15, which travelled at 4,520mph (7,300kmh).
The asteroid is around 0.7 miles (1.1km) wide – making it longer than the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which stands at 0.5 miles high (0.8km).
It is set to pass by our planet on the 4th February at a distance of around 2,615,128 miles (4,208,641km) away – which is relatively close in space terms.
For reference, the distance between the Earth and the moon is 238,855 miles (384,400 km).
Nasa describes asteroids as ‘hazardous’ if they come within 4,600,000 miles (7,403,00km) of our planet.
It is the largest space rock to brush past our planet this year and previous research has found a rock of this size could plunge Earth into a mini-ice age if it hit.
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