Technology
Five HUGE asteroids soaring past Earth on St Patrick’s Day – and one is bigger than the Statue of Liberty
NASA has its sights set on five close approach asteroids this St Patrick’s Day.
The five large space rocks are all on the US space agencies ‘near-Earth objects’ list.
GettyFive asteroids just shot past Earth[/caption]
All of the asteroids made their close approaches to Earth this morning.
Asteroid 2019 PH1 is the largest at a staggering 203 feet wide.
In comparison, the Statue of Liberty from base to torch is 151 feet tall.
This large asteroid just came about 2.9 million miles away from Earth.
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That may sound pretty far away but Asteroid 2019 PH1 was technically close enough to be considered ‘potentially hazardous’.
Today’s closest approach came from a slightly smaller space rock called 2022 EL6.
This 190 feet asteroid came within 1.3 million miles of Earth.
In the grand scheme of space this isn’t a large distance at all, so Nasa still flagged it as something to keep an eye on.
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Any fast moving space object that comes within around 4.65 million miles is considered to be “potentially hazardous” by cautious space organisations.
A 78 foot asteroid called 2022 EU3 was the last close approach asteroid to shoot past today.
Asteroid 2022 EU3 came within 3.4 million miles of Earth.
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The other two asteroids to make today’s list are called 2022 EM6 and 2022 EU6.
They’re said to be about 200 feet and 183 feet respectively.
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