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An asteroid by the name of 2021 HH is gearing up for a close approach to our planet. The asteroid is a staggering 34 metres in length, making it three times longer than the feared tyrannosaurus rex. According to analysis from NASA, the space rock will make its closest approach to Earth on April 29.
Experts who have studied the asteroid believe it is travelling at an almost incomprehensible 16.5 kilometres per second.
This is the equivalent to 59,400 kilometres per hour (36,900 miles per hour).
At that speed, it could complete an orbit of Earth in less than an hour.
For reference, it takes the Moon almost 28 days to complete one full circle of our planet.
NASA has designated 2021 HH as a Near Earth Object (NEO).
However, the designated title can be misleading as the asteroid will be more than 14 times the distance of the Earth and the Moon when it reaches its closest point on April 29.
This would mean it is more than five million kilometres away.
Nonetheless, this is a hair’s width in astronomical terms, which is why NASA has described it as an NEO.
NEOs provide the likes of NASA the opportunity to look at the history of the solar system.
NASA said on its JPL website: “NEOs are comets and asteroids that have been nudged by the gravitational attraction of nearby planets into orbits that allow them to enter the Earth’s neighbourhood.
“The scientific interest in comets and asteroids is due largely to their status as the relatively unchanged remnant debris from the solar system formation process some 4.6 billion years ago.
“The giant outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) formed from an agglomeration of billions of comets and the left over bits and pieces from this formation process are the comets we see today.
“Likewise, today’s asteroids are the bits and pieces left over from the initial agglomeration of the inner planets that include Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.”
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The European Space Agency (ESA) warned that NEOs can pose a threat to Earth.
It said: “Of the more than 600,000 known asteroids in our Solar System, more than 20,000 are NEOs.
“NEOs could potentially hit our planet and, depending on their size, produce considerable damage.
“While the chance of a large object hitting Earth is very small, it would produce a great deal of destruction.
“NEOs thus merit active detection and tracking efforts.”
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