A Stadium Sized NASA Asteroid 2002 NN4 Is Going To Pass Near The Earth This Week

  • June 06, 2020
  • Space & Technology

A Stadium sized NASA Asteroid 2002 NN4 is going to pass near the Earth this week

On its Asteroid Watch page, NASA said the 1,100-foot asteroid will fly past Earth on Saturday. The space rock will come within 3.16 million miles of Earth, according to NASA.

Asteroid 163348, or 2002 NN4, is traveling at 11.15 kilometers per second (6.9 miles per second or 24,840 mph), according to NASA.

The space agency classifies asteroid 2002 NN4 as a “potentially hazardous object” because it is larger than 492 feet and traveling within 4.6 million miles of Earth.

“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.”

NASA also classed it as a PHA, stating: The space agency said: “Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) are currently defined based on parameters that measure the asteroid’s potential to make threatening close approaches to the Earth.

“Specifically, all asteroids with a minimum orbit intersection distance (MOID) of 0.05 au or less are considered PHAs.”