Aircraft-sized asteroid to pass Earth today, reveals NASA

Most asteroids revolve around the Sun in their orbits but they can come close to the planet on certain occasions after interacting with a large planet’s gravitational field.

This entanglement knocks asteroids off their orbits and sends them hurtling towards a planet, raising a potential impact scenario.

With the help of its ground and space-based telescopes, NASA says an asteroid is expected to pass Earth by a close margin today, April 12.

The asteroid has been given the designation of Asteroid 2024 GA2 by NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS).

The space rock is travelling in its orbit at a menacing speed of around 50022 kilometres per hour and will pass Earth at a distance of 5.5 million kilometres.

Although Asteroid 2024 GA2 will come close to Earth and has been designated as a Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA), it is not likely to impact the surface.

In terms of size, the asteroid is nearly 99 feet wide, making it almost as big as an aircraft.

It belongs to the Apollo group of Near-Earth Asteroids, named after the humongous 1862 Apollo asteroid.