Two House-Sized Asteroids Are Getting Closer to Earth at High Speed — NASA Closely Monitors
NASA is tracking two house-sized asteroids as they get closer and closer to Earth. One asteroid, named "2025 VW," is predicted to make its closest approach at about 1.29 million miles from the planet. While the second asteroid, "2025 VC2," is expected to approach from a distance of 1.92 million miles, according to the agency's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS). The measurement of the "2025 VW" is predicted to be 39 to 91 feet in diameter with an acceleration rate of 15,900 miles per hour. Similarly, the "2025 VC2" is expected to measure 32 to 75 feet in diameter, with a speed of 20,500 miles per hour. Asteroids are large chunks of mass remnants from the formation of the solar system, according to NASA.
The formation of asteroids dates back to about 4.6 billion years. "Most asteroids can be found orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter within the main asteroid belt," the agency added. They vary in size, ranging from 329 miles in diameter to as small as 33 feet in measurement. "The total mass of all the asteroids combined is less than that of Earth's Moon." The Near-Earth Objects, or NEOs, often orbit around the Sun and occasionally approach our planet closely. However, close in the astronomical world is still pretty far: millions or even tens of millions of kilometers. At some point, these Sun-orbiting asteroids come closer to the Earth’s "orbital neighborhood." Since these house-sized asteroids are predicted to approach the planet closely, they can be considered Near Earth Objects.
Many NEOs are known to science, enabling the tracking of their approach to Earth using advanced technology. "CNEOS software detects predicted Earth close approaches for all known NEOs, in both the past and the future," the agency added. Earlier this year, the agency had predicted another NEO or asteroid to strike the planet, but in 2032. It impact probability of the "2024 YR4” asteroid was recorded to be 3.1%, the "highest impact probability NASA has ever recorded for an object of this size or larger," as per Newsweek. Although these asteroids travel at a fast pace, they don't pose any threat to the planet. The agency claimed that there will be no significant impact risk to the Earth. The scientists have tried to pinpoint the location where the "2024 YR4" meteor could crash are 20% confident about it.
They realized that the meteor had the potential to crash into the moon. That's because the probability of impacting the moon has increased from 3.8% to 4.3%. However, scientists believe that if the asteroid were to hit the moon, the impact wouldn't be noticeable. "In the small chance that the asteroid were to impact, it would not alter the Moon’s orbit," as per the agency. "Asteroid 2024 YR4 is now too far away to observe with either space or ground-based telescopes. NASA expects to make further observations when the asteroid’s orbit around the Sun brings it back into the vicinity of Earth in 2028," it added. If they asteroid were to hit our planet, the agency can confirm that the impact would be insignificant and pose no major risk to the Earth. "The majority of near-Earth objects have orbits that don’t bring them very close to Earth, and therefore pose no risk of impact," the agency added.
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