Asteroid the length of two lorries will make ‘near-Earth approach’ today, says Nasa

April Roach @aprilroach288 September 2020

An asteroid the length of two lorries is due to make a “near-Earth approach” today, according to Nasa.

The 37-metre-long space rock, known as 2020 PT4, has been classified as a near-Earth object (NEO) by the US agency.

It is set to move past our planet at a distance of just over one million miles and at a speed of about seven million miles per second.

Nasa is tracking the asteroid’s course via its Asteroid Watch widget, which displays the dates of the closest approach of space objects.

The asteroid is due to make its closest approach to Earth at 3.52pm UTC on Tuesday.

At that point, asteroid 2020 PT4 will be 0.01266 astronomical units (1,180,000 miles) away, according to the report on Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory website.

Nasa said that if 2020 PT4 did ever collide with the Earth, its relatively small size means it would probably disintegrate in the atmosphere, reports LADbible.

It comes after Nasa revealed that another asteroid is heading towards Earth and will be closest one day before the US presidential election.

The space rock, called 2018VP1, has a 0.41 per cent chance of hitting the Earth on November 2, the day before Donald Trump and Joe Biden face off in the polls.

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