An asteroid larger than the Great Pyramid of Giza is approaching Earth this evening

Weather of Arabia - An asteroid larger than the Great Pyramid of Giza will come very close to the Earth today, Saturday , as it will be about three-quarters of the distance between the Earth and the Moon, and it will reach its closest point at 3:46 pm Mecca time.

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International Astronomy Center: Earth is on a date with the brightest passage of a dangerous category asteroid in 12 years on this date

An asteroid that has not passed near Earth in 12 years will approach Earth today

According to the European Space Agency, the asteroid called “2024 MK” was discovered on June 16, and its diameter ranges between 120 and 260 meters. It is classified as a potentially dangerous asteroid. It is worth noting that an asteroid of this brightness has not passed near Earth for 12 years.

During its closest approach, the asteroid will travel at about 21,000 mph (34,000 km/h), according to NASA. Astronomers in South Africa discovered the asteroid on June 16. Although this huge space rock does not pose any threat to Earth, NASA classifies it as a “potentially dangerous asteroid” due to its large size and unstable orbit that sometimes intersects with the orbit of our planet, and after it approaches Earth and the Moon at the end of this week, 2024 MK will return. To the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and will not return to our neighborhood until 2037, according to NASA projections. (The space rock wouldn't pose any threat to our planet either.)

NASA asteroid monitoring

NASA monitors the orbits of more than 35,000 near-Earth objects (NEOs), space rocks that lie within 120 million miles (195 million kilometers) of the Sun and often cross Earth's orbit during their travels. Currently, there are no known asteroids that pose a threat to our planet for at least the next 100 years. The approach of 2024 MK comes a few days after a larger asteroid called 2011 UL21 passed near our planet. This object is between 1.1 and 2.4 miles (1.7 to 3.9 km) across, and it passed 4.1 million miles (6.6 million km) from Earth, or about 17 times the distance to the Moon. Despite this vast distance, 2011 UL21 was the largest asteroid to approach Earth in 110 years, according to the Virtual Telescope Project, which broadcast the encounter live on Thursday (June 27).

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Sources:

livescience