Asteroid, larger than the A 380 Airbus plane, is headed for Earth! NASA issues a warning

Although smaller asteroids often come close to Earth, none of them have the potential to cause significant damage if they hit the surface. According to NASA, every 2000 years, an asteroid the size of a football field hits Earth and causes significant damage. Given that there have been no such asteroid impacts in recent memory, Earth may be due for one. Giant asteroids have been responsible for some of the biggest events in history. From the Chelyabinsk disaster that claimed many lives to the one that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs millions of years ago, whenever asteroids have crashed into Earth, they have impacted lives.

now, NASA he’s warned that another one is on the way, and while it’s not a planet killer, it’s still big enough to cause cataclysmic damage if it hits Earth.

Key details about asteroid 2019 XS

Asteroid 2019 XS is on its way land traveling at an astonishing speed of 42727 kilometers per hour. It will make its closest approach to Earth at a distance of 6.4 million kilometers, according to NASA. NASA’s Office of Planetary Defense Coordination has warned that asteroid 2019 XS is colossal in size, ranging from 147 feet to 328 feet!

For reference, the world’s largest commercial airliner, the Airbus A380, is 239 feet long, making the asteroid even bigger than the plane!

According to the-sky.org, asteroid 2019 XS was discovered on April 4, 2000. It belongs to the Apollo main group. asteroidswhich are a group of near-Earth asteroids named after the huge Apollo asteroid of 1862, discovered by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth in the 1930s.

According to the-sky.org, asteroid 2019 XS takes only 368 days to orbit the Sun during which its maximum distance from the Sun is 199 million kilometers and minimum distance is 101 million kilometers.

Asteroid Fun Fact

According to NASA, the orbits of asteroids can be changed by Jupiter’s massive gravity and by occasional close encounters with planets like Mars or other objects. These accidental encounters can knock asteroids out of the main belt and launch them into space in all directions through the orbits of the other planets.