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A skyscraper - sizeasteroiddiscovered two weeks ago will zoom between Earth and the moon on Saturday ( June 29 ) . At its close approach , the infinite careen will pass within rough 184,000 miles ( 295,000 kilometers ) of our planet — about three - quarters the medium aloofness between Earth andthe moonshine .
The asteroid , named 2024 MK , is estimated to measure about 480 foot ( 146 meters ) across , which is cracking than the height of a 40 - story building or theGreat Pyramid of Giza .
The potentially hazardous asteroid 2024 MK will sail between Earth and the moon on Saturday.
During its closest approach , it will be traveling at about 21,000 miles per hour ( 34,000 km / h),according to NASA . Astronomers in South Africa discovered the asteroid on June 16 .
Although the hefty space rock poses no threat to Earth , NASAclassifies it as a " potentially hazardous asteroid " due to its declamatory sizing and parlous orbit , which at times crosses that of our major planet . briefly after its close approaching to Earth and the moon this weekend , 2024 MK will zoom back out toward the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter , and will not repay to our neighborhood until 2037 , accord to NASA predictions . ( The place rock wo n’t pose any scourge to our planet then , either . )
Related : NASA ’s most wanted : The 5 most dangerous asteroids to Earth
ESA breaks down the 2024 MK close approach.
NASA supervise the orbits of more than35,000 near - Earth objects(NEOs ) , which are space rocks that come within 120 million mile ( 195 million kilometre ) of the sun , often cross Earth ’s orbital cavity during their travel . presently , there are no known asteroids that pose a threat to our satellite for at least the next 100 years .
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The closemouthed approach of 2024 MK comes just days after an even larger asteroid called2011 UL21 pillory past our planet . appraise between 1.1 and 2.4 miles ( 1.7 to 3.9 kilometers ) widely , the mountain - sizing objective flew by at 4.1 million miles ( 6.6 million km ) from Earth , or about 17 times the aloofness to the moon . Despite this ample breathing room , 2011 UL21 was the largest asteroid to come that close to Earth in 110 yr , concord to the Virtual Telescope Project , whichlivestreamed the encounterThursday ( June 27 ) .
These back - to - back flybys fittingly predate World Asteroid Day , which is celebrate on June 30 . That appointment is also the day of remembrance of the1908 Tunguska asteroid impact , which pulverise an estimated 80 million trees in Siberia over 830 square geographical mile ( 2,150 square kilometers ) .
