‘Hazardous’ 2,000ft wide asteroid will ‘zip past Earth at 27,000mph on Boxing Day’ - The Sun

A POTENTIALLY 'hazardous' 2,000ft wide asteroid is to zip past Earth at 27,000mph on Boxing Day, Nasa experts have revealed.

The massive space rock - known as 310442 (2000 CH59) - will be monitored as it comes closest to our planet in the early hours of December 26.

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The massive space rock will zip past Earth on Boxing Day (stock image)Credit: Getty - Contributor

The space agency's Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) estimates its diameter will range up to 2,034 feet.

That means it could be bigger than One World Trade Center in New York City, which tops out at a mere 1,792 feet.

"Over many centuries and millennia (these asteroids) might evolve into Earth-crossing orbits," Paul Chodas, director of CNEOS), told Newsweek.

"So it is prudent to keep tracking (them) for decades to come and to study how their orbits might be evolving.

What's the difference between an asteroid, meteor and comet?

Here's what you need to know, according to Nasa...

• Asteroid: An asteroid is a small rocky body that orbits the Sun. Most are found in the asteroid belt (between Mars and Jupiter) but they can be found anywhere (including in a path that can impact Earth)
• Meteoroid: When two asteroids hit each other, the small chunks that break off are called meteoroids
• Meteor: If a meteoroid enters the Earth's atmosphere, it begins to vapourise and then becomes a meteor. On Earth, it'll look like a streak of light in the sky, because the rock is burning up
• Meteorite: If a meteoroid doesn't vapourise completely and survives the trip through Earth's atmosphere, it can land on the Earth. At that point, it becomes a meteorite
• Comet: Like asteroids, a comet orbits the Sun. However rather than being made mostly of rock, a comet contains lots of ice and gas, which can result in amazing tails forming behind them (thanks to the ice and dust vapourising)

"At its closest, CH59 will be about 19 times farther than the moon," he revealed.

According to the CNEOS, the asteroid will travel past our planet at around 27,000mph.

It is officially a "near-Earth object" which is any comet or asteroid whose path around the sun takes it within 121 million miles of the star and 30 million miles of our orbit.

The rock is also classified "potentially hazardous" because it measures more than 460ft in diameter and its projected trajectory is expected to take it within 0.05 astronomical units of Earth.

Scientists know of about 25,000 NEOs larger than 460 feet in diameter with Chodas revealing we have discovered about 35 per cent of the total figure.

"But if you count everything larger than 10 meters [33 feet] in size, the total population goes up to something like 100 million," he said.

"For potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs), the total population is estimated to be about 5,000."

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‘Hazardous’ 2,000ft wide asteroid will ‘zip past Earth at 27,000mph on Boxing Day’ - The Sun
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