- Asteroid 2019 QE1 was only spotted by astronomers on 22 August 2019.
- It’s approach tonight is the closest that the asteroid will come to Earth with future fly bys estimated to get further away.
- It will be 5 million kilometers from the planet and flying at a speed of 23,796 kilometers per hour.
It will be the closest that asteroid 2019 QE 1 will come to the Earth — which is 5 million kilometers.
It’s next approach is scheduled for 14 August 2105, nearly a century later. By that time, it will be at least 32 million kilometers from Earth.
The event was flagged by the National Aeronautics and Space Agency’s (NASA) $4. However, it’s a fairly small asteroid with a diameter between 25 meters to 56 meters — more or less the size of an airplane. Yet, it has been defined as a ‘potentially hazardous asteroid’.
It will be speeding past the planet at a speed of 23,796 kilometers per hour, which is fairly reasonable speed for an asteroid.
If the space was a highway, asteroid 2019 QE1 would be well within the speed limit. Scientists believe it would take an asteroid the size of a house traveling at 48,000 kilometers an hour colliding with Earth to generate an impact equivalent to the Hiroshima nuclear bomb.