Log In


Reset Password
  • MENU
    Nation
    Tuesday, May 14, 2024

    Skyscraper-size asteroid will buzz Earth on Friday, safely passing within 1.7 million miles

    Workers on scaffolding repaint the NASA logo near the top of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Wednesday, May 20, 2020. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — An asteroid as big as a skyscraper will pass within 1.7 million miles of Earth on Friday.

    Don’t worry: There’s no chance of it hitting us since it will pass seven times the distance from Earth to the moon.

    NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies estimates the space rock is between 690 feet and 1,575 feet across. That means the asteroid could be similar in size to New York City’s Empire State Building or Chicago’s Willis Tower.

    Discovered in 2008, the asteroid is designated as 2008 OS7. It won’t be back our way again until 2032, but it will be a much more distant encounter, staying 45 million miles away.

    The harmless flyby is one of several encounters this week. Three much smaller asteroids also will harmlessly buzz Earth on Friday, no more than tens of yards across, with another two on Saturday. On Sunday, an asteroid roughly half the size of 2008 0S7 will swing by, staying 4.5 million miles away.

    ___

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

    Comment threads are monitored for 48 hours after publication and then closed.