Two rare asteroids will approach Earth in just 42 hours each this week. Because of their size and trajectory, both space rocks are considered “potentially dangerous”. But that doesn’t mean they pose a direct threat to Earth.
In fact, both can safely fly thousands of miles per hour. There is no possibility of a collision with our planet, according to the European Space Agency.
None of these asteroids are visible to the naked eye, but you can see them with a telescope or binoculars, Gianluca Masi, an astrophysicist and founder of the Virtual Telescope Project, told Business Insider in an email.
Watch Asteroid (415029) 2011 UL21 fly past Earth starting at 4:00 PM on Thursday, June 27.
Asteroid (415029) 2011 UL21 is one of the largest asteroids to pass near Earth recently, Masi wrote in a press release. The mountain-sized space rock, which is about 1.4 miles in diameter, is larger than 99% of near-Earth objects, according to Earth’s orbit.
Asteroid 2011 UL21 is part of a cluster of space rocks known as “planet killers” that are at least 1.2 miles across. According to LiveScience, if something were to hit the Earth, it would cause damage on a continental scale and create debris that would cause significant climate change for years to come.
For example, the asteroid Chicxulub, associated with the extinction of the dinosaurs, passed about 6.5 miles away and caused global warming for about 100,000 years.
A “planet killer” asteroid like 2011 UL21 could cause a mass extinction event if it collided with Earth. (Science Photo Library / Canva Pro)
Fortunately, UL21 2011 won’t be close enough to cause problems on Thursday. Masi will hide from Earth at a distance of more than 4 million miles, which is 17 times the distance between Earth and the Moon, Masi wrote.
But this flyby is important because in 2011 UL21 will be one of the 10 largest asteroids to pass by the Earth at its closest distance in the last 125 years. Asteroid 2024 MK was first detected earlier this month, and 13 days ago, according to the European Space Agency, it passed very close to Earth.
It is smaller than the 2011 UL21, measuring approximately 390 x 885 feet in diameter. The length is one to 2.5 football fields. But if this asteroid does not have the size, the brightness should make up for it. Masi wrote that it would pass about 77% of the average distance between the Earth and the Moon at 184,000 miles.
He said “The proximity will make it one of the most amazing things we’ve seen in recent history”.
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