Asteroids to fly by earth this weekend says NASA
Asteroid 2000 QW7 & Asteroid 2010 C01: Weekends are a laid back affair for most of us. We chill, watch Netflix and generally wish away the Monday that soon ruins our mood in less than 48 hours. But this one's a bit different, astronomically speaking. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has said that two big asteroids are going to zip past earth as you laze around. To underline the gravity of the situation, we want to tell you that last time a big asteroid directly hit-earth, our friends in Jurassic Park (dinosaurs) and other animals were wiped off the face of the earth millions of years ago.
Asteroids are serious business!
But worry not (at least this time) as these two asteroids are unlikely to hit the earth and just going to do a fly-by.
"Happening soon: two medium-sized asteroids will safely pass Earth! Both objects are passing by about 3.5 million miles – nearly 14 times the distance between Earth & the Moon," NASA has tweeted.
Asteroid 2000 QW7 and Asteroid 2010 C01 are the names of the two asteroids that are flying by our home planet this weekend. NASA has emphasised that there is ample distance between these two biggies and Earth so they are not likely to get sucked in by Earth's gravitational pull and create disaster.
First of these two asteroids (2010 C01) is about 400 to 850 feet across, while the second one (2000 QW7) is about 950 to 2100 feet across. Both of them will zoom past Earth during the weekend.
After reading about their size, you may think that these asteroids are not that big an affair. But don't forget that asteroids such as these usually travel at speeds of thousands of kilometres through space so they possess huge energy and very high momentum which can cause horrific damage on Earth if they hit it.
Think of it this way, the size of a bullet is very small, measuring into a few inches. On its own, the bullet can't do much of damage. But when it is shot with a gun, it gains very high speed and then well, you know what happens if you happen to stand in the way.
As said earlier, we need not worry about the asteroids right now as brains at NASA have ruled out collision. So do not prepare for an apocalypse.
