It seems that the universe is doing some dark jokes on us as the end of 2020 approaches, by sending 5 asteroids towards us in two days, and a space rock will follow after only days.
The giant 2000 WO107, which is estimated to be 0.51 km in diameter, or roughly the height of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, is set to approach our planet at 10.09 a.m. GMT on Sunday, November 29.
The visitor will not roam for long, despite its colossal size, as it travels at an incredible speed of 25.07 kilometers per second. It would also not be visible to most Earthlings, because it was mapped to what NASA considers “close fly” at 0.02876 astronomical units (AU) from Earth – or 2673409 miles.
NASA defines a NEO as any asteroid or comet approaching 1.3 astronomical units from Earth.
Meanwhile, there will be a lot of activity in our cosmic backyard, with five asteroids in the region on Monday and Tuesday alone.
On Monday, three space rocks: 2020 WN (about 9.5 meters in diameter), 2020 VW2 (about 14 meters) and 2020 WC (about 10 meters), hover near Earth at a distance of 1.6 million kilometers, 7 million kilometers and 1.6 million kilometers, respectively.
The average distance between the Earth and the moon is about 385,000 kilometers, but NASA considers all objects within 7.5 million kilometers (or 19.5 times the distance to the moon) worth watching, only if any of them undergo a sudden path correction.
Tuesday will see the 2017 WJ16 (47 meters in diameter) and 2020 TJ8 (about 31 meters) passing near the planet at a distance of 2 million kilometers and 6.4 million kilometers, before the next round of space rocks launches our planetary defenses.
And NASA and other space agencies around the world monitor space events 24/7, but sometimes humanity misses these close flights.