Asteroid News: A couple of Space Rocks Approaching Earth, NASA Finds

Will the asteroid 2019 WH2 flying at 36,684 km/h hit earth on Sunday?

On November 25th, NASA has identified an asteroid flying past the earth at around 22,794 m/h or 36.684 km/h. They said that it had again flown near the planet at 10.16 km per second speed at 8:46 AM GMT or 3.46 EDT on November 26th. But the big question is whether it will hit the earth on December 1st?

What are NEOs?

Asteroids are space rocks called the NEOs or the near to earth objects, which are a potential danger to earth. It is the reason that CNEOS monitors their movements, which are at high speeds, and their impact could cause devastation to planet earth. Along with NASA's DART or double asteroid redirect test spacecraft, ESA or the Europe Space Agency's Hera mission is set to gather asteroid data on a planet-saving mission from the asteroid. 

NASA named one such asteroid, which was found in its asteroid tracking systems on November 25th as Asteroid 2019 WH2. They predict that it will approach Earth on December 1st. NASA's CNEOS or the center for near-earth object studies says the asteroid is the size between 46 ft to 78.y ft, which on the higher end could be similar to a football ground. 

NASA has also identified another asteroid to visit planet earth in December. They have named it 2019 WN1, and it is approaching Earth at a speed of 22,000 miles per hour, which is only 1,000 miles per hour less than 2019 WH2. Both these Apollo asteroids, if hit the earth, could cause huge damages for property and life.

Now to the big question of will the Asteroid 2019 WH2 hit earth on December 1st as predicted by NASA. To the relief of billions of people, it is not so. It is to approach the planet on December 1st at 3:46 AM EST from a distance of 0.00873 astronomical units, which is roughly 811,000 miles away. As far as the Asteroid 2019 WN1 is concerned, it will visit earth also on December 1st at 4:14 PM EST and will be about 0.01095 astronomical units or about 1 million miles away from earth.