Nasa says asteroid three times as big as Empire State Building is just days away from Earth flyby

AN EXTREMELY large asteroid is due to shoot past Earth in just 10 days, according to Nasa.

The US space agency has designated the rock 138971 (2001 CB21) on its database of NEO Earth Close Approaches.

Getty ImagesAn asteroid three times the size of the Empire State Building is due to approach Earth in 10 days.[/caption]

The database is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a research development lab that is federally funded by Nasa and managed by the California Institute of Technology.

Object 2001 CB21 is presumed to be between 560 and 1,200 meters in diameter (or about 4,000 feet wide).

That is three times the size of the Empire State Building, which stands tall at 1,250 feet.

Nasa has classified the rock as a near-Earth object and predicts it will be closest to our planet on March 4.

At its nearest, the object will be about 12.78 Lunar Distance (or about 3,052,554 miles) away from Earth.

Asteroid 2001 CB21 will be traveling at an approximate velocity of 12.02 kilometers per second (or 26,887.9 miles per hour) as it approaches Earth.

The rock’s absolute magnitude is recorded as 18.4 H – Nasa defines an asteroid’s absolute magnitude as “the visual magnitude an observer would record if the asteroid were placed 1 Astronomical Unit (au) away.”

The asteroid was first discovered on February 2, 2001, by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) project near Socorro, New Mexico.

The extraterrestrial object has been approaching Earth on a nearly yearly basis and is due to return next year on both February 11 and April 24.

The rock was last seen near Earth on February 18, 2021.

Asteroids are rocky and metallic objects that orbit the Sun but are not considered planets.

At its nearest, the object will be about 12.78 Lunar Distance (or about 3,052,554 miles) away from Earth.

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