Potentially hazardous asteroid heading towards Earth, says Nasa

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A “potentially hazardous asteroid” the scale of a soccer pitch is hurtling towards Earth, Nasa has stated.

Asteroid 2008 OS7, which measures about 890 ft in diameter, will go our planet at a distance of 1,770,000 miles at 2.41pm (GMT) on Friday afternoon.

However, there isn’t any danger of collision.

Nasa describes probably hazardous asteroids as these which are greater than about 460 ft (140 metres) in measurement with orbits that convey them as shut as inside 4.6 million miles (7.5 million kilometres) of Earth’s orbit across the Sun.

Dr Minjae Kim, Research Fellow, Department of Physics, University of Warwick, stated: “2008 OS7, a very small asteroid whose orbit intersects with that of Earth, has been classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA).

He added: “We don’t need to worry about it too much as this asteroid will not enter Earth’s atmosphere, while this will still approach close to the Earth.

“There are more than millions of asteroids in our solar system, of which approximately 2,350 asteroids have been classified as PHAs.

“The next significant approach to Earth by a PHA will be the 99942 Apophis on April 14 2029.”

Asteroid 2008 OS7 completes an orbit across the solar each 962 days (2.63 Earth years).

Dr Kim continued: “Unfortunately, asteroids are generally too faint to have been detected by the current techniques and surveys, so it’s very hard to see by our naked eyes.

“The only asteroids at all visible to the naked eye so far are Pallas and Vesta, having diameters of about 500 km.”

Four different asteroids will make near-Earth passes between now and Friday, ranging in measurement from that of a aircraft to a home.

These will likely be: 2024 BR3 at 100 ft in measurement; 2024BR (63 ft); 2003 BM03 (120 ft); and 2024 BJ03 (73 ft).