Nasa warns massive asteroid will skim past Earth TODAY in ‘close approach’

AN ASTEROID the size of four football fields has started to approach its minimum distance from Earth.

The asteroid 349068 (2006 YT13) will slice past Earth at 10:42PM tonight at speeds of more than 50,000 miles per hour, according to data from Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California

1

The space rock is larger than most asteroids that make passes this close to Earth.

At about 1600 feet in diameter, the asteroid is more than five times the size of the Statue of Liberty.

349068 (2006 YT13) will pass Earth at a distance of just over four million miles.

It was classified as “potentially hazardous” because it was set to come within 4.65 million miles of Earth, but 349068 (2006 YT13) does not pose any immediate threat to our planet.

The asteroid was first observed in 2006, but Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Lab calculated that the rock has passed Earth 28 times since 1900.

Data from Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Lab says an asteroid of this size gets this close to Earth about once a year.

The European Space Agency manages a list of asteroids and calculates the probability that they will strike Earth.

There are almost 1,400 asteroids on the “risk list“.

Forbes reported that an asteroid twice the size of 349068 (2006 YT13) has a one in 50,000 chance of connecting with Earth in 2880.

After making its close approach tonight, 349068 (2006 YT13) will glide out towards space.

The asteroid will whip past Earth next in August 2025.