A 'Potentially Dangerous' Asteroid Twice The Size Of Big Ben Is Nearing Earth

The Center for Near-Earth Object Studies in NASA has revealed that an asteroid is currently approaching the Earth at a speed of about 17,000 mph and is about 2030 feet in diameter.

Poetically named by the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies 481394 (2006 SF6), the asteroid has been identified as a space object that occasionally crosses the Earth's orbit, which is usually when the asteroid is near its furthest point from the Sun in its path. According to CNEOS, this asteroid visits Earth about twice a year.

On the way to Earth

'Potentially dangerous space objects are defined on parameters that measure the asteroid's potential to approach the Earth too close' explains CNEOS before specifying:

'In particular, all asteroids with an orbital inclination of at least 0.05 astronomical units [An astronomical unit corresponds approximately to the distance between the Earth and the Sun, editor's note] or less and an absolute magnitude [intrinsic luminosity of an celestial object, editor's note] of 22.0 or less are considered potentially dangerous.'

This means that although the risk is currently low, it is possible that 481394 (2006 SF6) may one day crash into Earth. And if that were the case, the space object could completely destroy a large city. The asteroid will, therefore, pass into the orbit of our planet on November 20th at 12 am (UK time). It will pass about 2.7 million miles from Earth.