An asteroid as a big as a building is currently heading towards earth, and it will reach the vicinity of the blue planet on June 18. According to NASA asteroid tracker, this asteroid is a potentially hazardous space body, and if it enters the earth's atmosphere, it could cause a powerful mid-air explosion.
More details about this hazardous asteroid
According to the United States space agency, this asteroid named 2020 LG measures 279 feet, which makes it as big as the Statue of Liberty. As per the latest analysis, this rogue space body is currently screeching across space at a speed of 24,000 miles per hour.
Even though the chances of a potential collision are pretty less, a mid-air explosion if happens could unleash chaos in its immediate surroundings. The mid-air explosion will also unleash energy equivalent to the blast of several nuclear bombs.
According to the space agency, this asteroid will make its closest approach with the earth at 04.49 PM EDT. At the time of this closest approach, the space body will be almost 2.1 million miles away, which means, it will zip past the earth without causing any damage.
After this close encounter, 2020 LG will once again approach the earth on November 05, 2020. However, on November 05, this asteroid will be more than 38 million miles away from the earth.
Planetary defence weapon and NASA's efforts
Several top space experts including Dr Iain McDonald had previously suggested that rogue events like asteroid hits are not confined to the past, and he believes that it may happen in the future too. As threats from space loom up, NASA is building a planetary defence weapon to protect the earth from future asteroid hits.
With this defence weapon, NASA aims to deflect an incoming asteroid from its collision trajectory. However, some space experts believe that NASA's plans to deviate asteroids using this method will not work well with large space bodies. According to these experts, the only way to protect the planet from rogue space rocks is by nuking them.
