A massive asteroid about the size of a skyscraper is all set to fly by Earth on Thursday, September 18. The asteroid named 2025 FA22, deemed ‘potentially hazardous’, will fly past Earth at more than 24,000 mph. It was earlier reported that this massive space rock stood a slim chance of impacting Earth in 2089. This briefly made the 2025 FA22 top the list of major risks.
The 2025 FA22 was discovered earlier this year. Based on the early assessment that hinted at its possible impact on Earth in 2089, the asteroid earned the top spot in the European Space Agency’s impact risk list. However, subsequent observations revealed that the asteroid was no longer a threat to our home planet.
The asteroid is reportedly between 427 and 951 feet in size, meaning it could easily destroy an entire city if it were to hit Earth. In the early hours on Thursday, it will be at its minimum distance from Earth. The 2025 FA22 will be coming about 835,000 kms closer.
Below is a link to a livestream capturing the trajectory of the 2025 FA22:
The Pan-STARRS 2 telescope in Hawaii first spotted the massive asteroid in March. It was reported to have a 0.01 per cent chance of impacting Earth upon its return for another flyby on September 23, 2089.
What are potentially hazardous asteroids?
Asteroids, or space rocks, are mostly concentrated in the asteroid belt that lies between Mars and Jupiter. While most of them are harmless, a few fly close to the Earth. According to NASA, asteroids that orbit about 30 million miles from Earth are known as near-Earth objects, or NEOs. However, within the set of NEOs there is another subgroup of asteroids that are large and could pose an imminent threat to Earth if they were to collide.
These space rocks that threaten our planet are known as potentially hazardous asteroids.These types of asteroids are larger than 460 feet in diameter and could be as close as 4.65 million miles to Earth. According to experts, if an asteroid of this magnitude were to hit Earth’s atmosphere, it could likely cause widespread destruction.
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According to NASA’s Centre for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), there were about 37,500 NEOs, of which 2,500 are believed to be potentially hazardous asteroids by the Minor Planet Centre of the International Astronomical Union.
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