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House-Sized Asteroid Approaching Earth, NASA Reports
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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NASA is tracking a house-sized asteroid set to zip past the Earth on August 16 at around 17,717 miles per hour.
Known as 2025 PR1, the space rock is estimated to be about 55 feet across and will make its closest approach on Saturday, at a distance of 609,000 miles, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
Three more space rocks are expected to zoom past the Earth next week. On August 17, a plane-sized asteroid known as 2025 PM, will make its closest approach at a distance of 654,000 miles.
On August 20, two asteroids will follow. A stadium-sized asteroid, 990 feet across, known as 1997 QK1 will pass within 1,870,000 miles, followed by 2025 OV4, 160 feet across, which will come as close as 1,800,000 miles away.
A stock image shows an asteroid zipping past the Earth, as seen from space.
A stock image shows an asteroid zipping past the Earth, as seen from space.
getty images
Small asteroids up to 30 feet across impact the Earth about once in a decade. They typically cause a bright fireball and a strong sonic boom—and may break the odd window—but they do not usually cause much destruction.
Back in February, a 174 to 220 feet asteroid—"2024 YR4"—was estimated to have a 3.1 percent chance of impacting the Earth in 2032, which was "the highest impact probability NASA has ever recorded for an object of this size or larger."
A space rock this big could level a whole city upon impact with Earth. However, refined projections suggest that impact with Earth is very unlikely, and some scientists now believe that 2024 YR4 might be on its course to impact the moon in December 2032 instead.
"Asteroid 2024 YR4 is now too far away to observe with either space or ground-based telescopes. NASA expects to make further observations when the asteroid's orbit around the Sun brings it back into the vicinity of Earth in 2028," NASA said.
Additional data from the NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), shows that the probability of the asteroid impacting the Moon has increased slightly, from 3.8 percent to 4.3 percent.
However, CNEOS also notes that even in the unlikely event that it does make an impact, this would not alter the Moon's orbit.
Scientists from South Korea's Pusan National University recently studied another huge near-Earth asteroid—Bennu. This 1,640 feet wide space rock is predicted to have a one-in-2,700 chance of colliding with the Earth in the September of 2182.
While an impact is very unlikely, the consequences of such could be catastrophic. The shock waves generated by the impact of the collision would cause earthquakes, wildfires and thermal radiation. It would also leave a large crater and eject debris upward.
Atmospheric chemistry and global photosynthesis would be disrupted for between three to four years, as a result of the 100–400 million tons of dust that would be injected into the atmosphere due to the impact.
The average surface temperature would decrease by around 7 degrees Fahrenheit, the average rainfall would fall by 15 percent, and the ozone layer would deplete by 32 percent. Even plant photosynthesis would decrease by between 20 and 30 percent.
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