AN ASTEROID the size of a school bus has been making its way towards Earth at over 21,000 miles an hour.
NASA is monitoring the asteroid, which was expected to make a close approach Friday.
The space rock, known as “2026 EG1,” is measuring in around 40 feet in diameter and is traveling over 21,500 miles per hour, Newsweek reported, citing the Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS).
While it poses no risk to Earth, the asteroid is expected to make its closest approach on Friday, coming within 198,000 miles of Earth, closer than the moon, which is over 238,000 miles away from us.
Space.com said the asteroid would make a close approach around late Thursday night or early into Friday.
Asteroids are small, rocky masses that are left over from the solar system’s formation about 4.6 billion years ago.
Some asteroids “follow paths that circulate into the inner solar system, including near-Earth asteroids, while others remain outside the orbit of Neptune,” according to NASA.
Some near-Earth objects have orbits that bring them within 120 million miles of the sun and into the “orbital neighborhood” of Earth.
In January, scientists discovered the fastest-spinning asteroid, known as 2025 MN45, that was rotating about once every two minutes, Newsweek reported.
The 2025 MN45 asteroid measured in around 2,300 feet across, making it nearly the size of eight football fields.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/tech/16081768/bus-sized-asteroid-speeds-to-earth-nasa-tracking/