Aircraft-Sized Asteroid Racing Towards Earth, Closest Approach Today

An aircraft-sized asteroid is hurtling towards Earth and is expected to make its closest approach to the planet on Tuesday (September 12), according to American space agency NASA. The 68-foot celestial body named 2023 RO1 will be 2.5 million kilometres away during this period, the agency further said on a dedicated page for asteroids. It belongs to the Apollo group of Near Earth Objects. NASA has launched an asteroid dashboard that tracks and lists asteroids and comets that will make relatively close approaches to Earth.

The asteroid is moving at an astonishing speed of 44,671 kilometres per hour.

The asteroid is named after 1863 Apollo asteroid, which was discovered by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth in the 930s.

2023 RO1 has passed by the Earth before, but this is the closest-ever approach to the planet, as per NASA data. The asteroid is expected to make its next approach to Earth on March 20, 2029.

Some 30,000 asteroids of all sizes - including more than 850 larger than a kilometre wide - have been catalogued in the vicinity of the Earth, earning them the label "Near Earth Objects" (NEOs). None of them threatens the Earth for the next 100 years.

According to NASA, asteroids are left over from the formation of our solar system. Our solar system began about 4.6 billion years ago when a big cloud of gas and dust collapsed. When this happened, most of the material fell to the centre of the cloud and formed the sun. Some of the condensing dust in the cloud became planets.