Asteroids Bigger Than Football Fields Earthbound: This is How Close They’ll Get to Us

The first big asteroid approaching Earth is as early as Sunday, September 6, and to make matters worse, it ticks all the checkboxes for being a potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA). Asteroid 465824 2010 FR will approach us Sunday, and its diameter is approximately 270 metres wide. In comparative terms, it is as large as twice the size of Giza’s biggest pyramids, and its magnitude scale of 21.7 also qualifies it within NASA’s scale of hazardous objects near Earth. The asteroid will fly past us at a distance of 7.41 million kilometres from Earth, which is more than 19x the distance between Earth and the moon.

ALSO READ | Massive Asteroids Approaching Earth in 2020: Gigantic 800m Rock to Fly By in November

Asteroid 2: 2020 QL2 (120 metres)

The second big asteroid approach to Earth will occur on September 14, as is a comparatively new discovery in terms of asteroid detection by researchers. Asteroid 2020 QL2 measures 120 metres in diameter – as big as the widest part of the average professional football pitch. Its magnitude scale of 23.5 on NASA’s CNEOS table puts it just beyond the scale of caution that potentially hazardous asteroids pose. 2020 QL2 is expected to fly past us at a distance of 6.84 million kilometres – almost 18x the distance between Earth and moon.