Asteroid three times Statue of Liberty is fast-approaching Earth today

NASA's database says an asteroid that could be three to six times the size of the Statue of Liberty is fast approaching Earth.

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An asteroid that could be anywhere between 425 and 985 feet in diameter is approaching Earth at tens of thousands of miles per hour.

Asteroid three times Statue of Liberty is fast-approaching Earth today 01

The asteroid is named 2021 NY1, and according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Near-Earth-Object (NEO) tracking website, the asteroid will pass Earth safely at a distance of about 970,000 miles. NASA categorizes any object that passes within 120 million miles of the Sun as a NEO, hence asteroid 2021 NY1's classification.

In terms of distances in space, 970,000 miles is quite close to Earth as the Moon is only 238,855 miles away. NASA's NEO database describes 2021 NY1 as being roughly between three and six Statues of Liberty tall and that the space rock is traveling at around 21,000 mph, which is about 27 times the speed of sound. If you are interested in what asteroid has come the closest to Earth, that would be asteroid 2020 QG, which passed over the Indian Ocean at just 1,830 miles.

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Jak joined the TweakTown team in 2017 and has since reviewed 100s of new tech products and kept us informed daily on the latest science, space, and artificial intelligence news. Jak's love for science, space, and technology, and, more specifically, PC gaming, began at 10 years old. It was the day his dad showed him how to play Age of Empires on an old Compaq PC. Ever since that day, Jak fell in love with games and the progression of the technology industry in all its forms. Instead of typical FPS, Jak holds a very special spot in his heart for RTS games.

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