Mount Everest size Asteroid to pass by Earth today: How dangerous it is?

New Delhi : While people are figuring out ways to combat coronavirus, there is another danger that is looming on earth. NASA had earlier confirmed that a giant asteroid will be passing by Earth on April 29.

According to NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, the flyby is expected to occur at 3:26 pm IST on Wednesday and scientists are keeping a close track of the asteroid using the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) system.

Is this dangerous?

Well, several reports had claimed that it will collide with Earth, but NASA has clarified that there is no reason to worry as it is not going to hit the planet.

The asteroid named 1998 OR2, will miss us by a distance of 0.04205 astronomical units (AU) or 3,908,791 miles, as per NASA.

Although the 1998 OR2 has been classified as a potentially hazardous object due to its close approach to earth, it will not cause any collision. Even at its closest approach, the asteroid will still be about 16 times farther from us than the moon is from the Earth, researchers have stressed.

“There are no asteroids which have any significant chance of hitting the Earth that are of any significant size,” Paul Chodas, manager of NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said during a pre-recorded “NASA Science Live” webcast.