Gigantic 7200-foot asteroid tumbling towards Earth today, says NASA alert! Check speed, distance

A gigantic 7200-foot is set to make a terrifyingly close approach to Earth today. Is there a need to worry? Check how close it will come.

Apart from this gigantic 7200-foot asteroid, there is another 210-foot asteroid that will come very close to Earth today. (Pixabay)

A shocking 7200-foot asteroid is on its way to making a close approach to Earth. The monster asteroid will come very close to our planet today. Yes, meet Asteroid 415028 (2011 UL21)! Even its name is a mouthful and sets it apart from other asteroids. The asteroid is going to get as close as 4,130,000 miles of Earth. With this size and momentum, it is definitely an asteroid to put fear in anyone. To put things in perspective, it is a bridge-sized asteroid. 

The asteroid has been classified as an Apollo group space rock and comes under both near-Earth objects (NEO) and Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA) categories. And how fast is it traveling? This asteroid is traveling at a fearsome pace. According to the NASA database, this asteroid is speeding along at a hair-raising 25.88 kilometres per second or 57897 miles per hour! It was discovered in 2011-10-17 by CSS at Catalina. 

However, today is a busy asteroid day for Earth as one more space rock will be getting very close too. 

There is Asteroid 2019 NJ, which again is a very big, airplane-sized space rock, 210 feet in diameter. This asteroid will come close to Earth today too. It will get as close as 4,100,000 miles to our planet. It may be relatively smaller, but the potential for destruction is still high. This Asteroid has been classified as an Amor group space rock and is considered a near-Earth Object (NEO). The asteroid is travelling at a humongous speed measured by NASA at 10.11 kilometres per second or 22609 miles per hour.

NASA observations indicate that these two asteroids, fearsome as they are, will be flying away at the distances mentioned and not get any closer to Earth. 

Phew! That is a relief. 

However, the real fear is generated when asteroids simply seem to appear out of nowhere and buzz Earth at close quarters. They seem to be able to evade all the NAS technology and stealthily approach Earth. By the time NASA catches it, it is just days away from Earth and no one can really do anything if it were heading directly for our planet.