This Thursday, a large “potentially dangerous” asteroid will pass very close to Earth, according to NASA.

They emphasize that there is no risk of impact, but that it will enter the orbit of the planet.

The estimated diameter of the massive boulder could be between 350 and 780 meters, twice the size of the Empire State Building in New York.

Similarly, it is approaching Earth at about 37,400 km/s and will pass 3 million kilometers from Earth as reported by. A B C.

Asteroid will pass near Earth

The asteroid, designated 418135 (2008 AG33), is not approaching our planet for the first time.

As detailed by NASA, in May 1939, 418135 approached nearly 2.5 million kilometers.

However, this opportunity isn’t the planet’s closest so far.

It will reappear in May 2029

as predicted by american aviation agencyThe space rock will pass again in May 2029.

Although on this occasion it will do so at a distance of more than 40 million kilometers (40 million kilometers) this Thursday.

For NASA, 418135 (2008 AG33) is considered a “potentially dangerous” asteroid because of its size, velocity, or path. Even so, it does not pose any risk to Earth as it will not collide.

The interesting thing about this asteroid is that due to its small size, it was discovered by the Mount Lemmon Survey Observatory 48 hours ago, because it is barely 12 meters long, making it roughly the size of a bus.

NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies is clear that it is highly unlikely that one of these rocks will hit our planet. Their calculations are that an asteroid about 100 meters in diameter reaches Earth every 10,000 years, causing only local catastrophes or tidal waves. However, rocks larger than a kilometer in diameter, causing global catastrophes, only reach Earth every hundreds of thousands of years, so we can live safely.