A gigantic asteroid is headed towards Earth and is expected to make a close approach. NASA is monitoring asteroid 418135 (2008 AG33), which is expected to pass its closest point to our planet on April 28th.
The US space agency has included the asteroid in its table of close approaches to near-Earth objects. The asteroid is predicted to be up to 2428 feet wide. While the Empire State Building in New York by comparison is 1454 feet tall in total.
The predicted size of the asteroid also makes it almost as big as the tallest building on Earth. Dubai’s Burj Khalifa is just over 2,716 feet tall.
Despite its proximity and large size, the asteroid is not expected to hit Earth. It should speed by at a safe distance of approximately 2 million miles. That may seem pretty far away, however, it’s close enough to catch NASA’s interest.
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Space wary organizations consider large fast-moving space objects within 4.65 million miles of Earth to be “potentially dangerous“. Since a small change in their trajectories could spell disaster for Earth.
This is why NASA will want to take note of the approach in late April. The large asteroid is forecast to pass by the earth at a speed of just over 23,000 miles per hour.