A 36-metre long comet, almost twice as long as an 18-wheeler vehicle,
is on its way towards Earth and it is expected to fly past Earth on
Tuesday. The comet, identified as the 2020 PT4, coming towards our
planet and the Moon is on what NASA describes as the “near Earth” path, Daily Express
says. NASA has reported that the asteroid moves 12.6 kilometres per
second or 45.360 kilometres per hour. At its current speed it can travel
to New York from London in one hour.
The asteroid is expected to pass 4.9 times the distance between Earth
and Moon. Given the relatively vast distance, it has been classified by
NASA as a near-earth object (NEO) – which means it is the ideal
opportunity to analyse the solar system.
And if the meteor hits Earth, which NASA claims it won’t, then it’s not going to be a life-threatening occurrence.
Although the odds of a large asteroid destroying Earth are slim –
NASA estimates that every year there is one in 300,000 odds of a space
rock striking that might inflict regional destruction – the catastrophic
possibility is not unlikely.
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