Surprise asteroid wider than two football fields approaches Earth

An asteroid that was only discovered days ago, estimated to be wider than two football fields, has made its approach to Earth.

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An asteroid that was only discovered at the end of last month by astronomers has made its approach to Earth, confirms officials.

Surprise asteroid wider than two football fields approaches Earth 01

The asteroid recently dubbed 2022 OE2 was discovered on July 26, and according to astronomers' estimates, the space rock is approximately the size of two American football fields - between 557 and 1,246 feet wide. If this asteroid was to collide with Earth, officials have estimated it would release more energy than approximately 1,000 nuclear bombs. However, that won't happen as NASA has confirmed that its trajectory won't put it on a collision course with our little blue planet.

Officials have measured 2022 OE2 and found that it will pass Earth at about 3.2 million miles, which is about 13 times the average distance between the Earth and the moon. 2022 OE2 safely zoomed past Earth on August 4. If you are wondering if Earth is due to be impacted by any large asteroids of this caliber, fear not, as NASA is tracking thousands of space rocks such as 2022 OE2, and according to the space agency, there isn't a cataclysmic asteroid that its aware of due to impact Earth for at least the next 100 years.

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NEWS SOURCE:space.com

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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