NASA alerts that a massive asteroid will pass Earth today- Check details

With the help of its ground and space-based telescopes, NASA has tracked an asteroid whose orbit will bring it very close to Earth today, April 23.

The orbits of Asteroids often bring them close to Earth, and this is known as a ‘close approach’. This happens after interaction with a planet’s gravitational field.

These accidental encounters can knock asteroids out of the main belt and hurl them into space in all directions across the orbits of the other planets.

As per the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), the asteroid has been given the designation of Asteroid 2024 HS.

This near-Earth space rock is expected to pass Earth today at a close distance of approximately 7.4 million kilometres.

It is already hurtling in its orbit at a speed of about 20546 kilometres per hour.

In terms of size, Asteroid 2024 HS is nearly 81 feet wide, which makes it almost as big as an aircraft!

It belongs to the Amor group of Near-Earth Asteroids named after asteroid 1221 Amor, an asteroid discovered by Belgian astronomer E. Delporte in 1932.