NASA has confirmed that asteroid 388945 (2008 TZ3), which is larger than the Empire State Building in New York City, is hurtling towards Earth. Thankfully, this 1600-foot space rock is expected to pass 3.5-million miles away, but should still be considered a threat. It’s set to make a close approach at 5:18pm ET on May 16th at a speed of just over 18,000 miles per hour.
One thing to note is that this isn’t the first time that 388945 has passed by Earth, as it made an approach in May 2020 at a distance of about 1.75-million miles. However, it’s not expected to make another close approach to Earth until May 2163. This asteroid orbits the sun every 732 days, coming as close as 1 astronomical unit (AU), or about 93-million miles, and reaching as far as 2.21 AU from the star. Imagine viewing this asteroid with a powerful telescope atop New York’s Chrysler Building.
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