The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) scientists are closely monitoring a gigantic asteroid named 2024 XN1 as it is scheduled to pass Earth on December 24. Astronomers claim that the space rock, which is moving at a great speed of 14,743 miles per hour, or 23726.5 kilometers per hour, is the size of about a 10-story building.
The 120-square-foot asteroid, which is around the size of an airplane, was spotted by NASA's tracking system that keeps an eye on all possible threats to the planet by monitoring the tracks of several asteroids on the flight path towards Earth.
Asteroid 2024 XN1 is scheduled to arrive on the eve of Christmas in December 2024. However, it will only wave past us earthlings for its own cosmic party elsewhere in the deep void.
The asteroid will be skipping Earth by 4,480,000 miles, which is equivalent to 16 times the distance between Earth and its closest natural satellite, Moon.
According to the scientists, this asteroid event is a "near miss," but they alerted that we are still not prepared to handle an asteroid threat, which is capable of wiping out the entire civilization from the face of earth. Thus, it is extremely important to continue working on planetary defense efforts as we are aware of the destructive power, for instance, the asteroid that struck the Yucatán Peninsula 66 million years ago led to the extinction of 75 percent of Earth's species, including the dinosaurs.
Asteroid 2024 XN1 is the largest of the next five asteroids that will make close approaches to Earth. Meanwhile, two more asteroids will pass our planet on December 21. One of the asteroids, which is 50-square-foot (2024 XQ4) is approaching at 656,000 miles and the other one, a 60-square-foot (2024 XN15) at 2,350,000 miles.
The Asteroid Watch dashboard at NASA tracks all the potential objects approaching 4.6 million miles of Earth and provides information on the asteroids' size, distance, and potential approach date. According to scientists, objects that are larger than 150 meters within this distance are considered potentially hazardous.
