NASA Confirms 36 Metre Long Asteroid Is Headed Towards Earth This Tuesday

A 36-metre long comet, almost twice as long as an 18-wheeler vehicle, is on its way towards Earth and it is expected to fly past Earth on Tuesday. The comet, identified as the 2020 PT4, coming towards our planet and the Moon is on what NASA describes as the “near Earth” path, Daily Express says. NASA has reported that the asteroid moves 12.6 kilometres per second or 45.360 kilometres per hour. At its current speed it can travel to New York from London in one hour.

(Image: Getty Images/Science Photo Library RF)

The asteroid is expected to pass 4.9 times the distance between Earth and Moon. Given the relatively vast distance, it has been classified by NASA as a near-earth object (NEO) – which means it is the ideal opportunity to analyse the solar system.

And if the meteor hits Earth, which NASA claims it won’t, then it’s not going to be a life-threatening occurrence.

Although the odds of a large asteroid destroying Earth are slim – NASA estimates that every year there is one in 300,000 odds of a space rock striking that might inflict regional destruction – the catastrophic possibility is not unlikely.