Asteroid Possibly 230 Meters In Diameter To Zoom Past Earth Next Month

Asteroids are flying through space all the time, and some of them occasionally come very close to our planet. A large asteroid believed to be between 100 and 230 meters in diameter will fly by the Earth on Christmas Eve. The asteroid is called 2016 TR54.

The asteroid will pass a safe distance from Earth at 6.5 million kilometers, but that is a close pass on a cosmic scale. At such a vast distance, the asteroid will only be visible with a telescope.

For comparison, the moon is about 384,000 kilometers away from the Earth. NASA doesn’t think the Earth has a real chance of being hit by an asteroid anytime in the next 100 years.

However, NASA and other agencies are vigilant in searching the sky, looking for Asteroids that are unknown and might pose a threat. NASA also has the DART mission set to launch soon to test if the impact of a spacecraft could redirect an asteroid that poses a threat.