Another day, another Asteroid! Gigantic space rock 2006 QQ23 might hit Earth NEXT month

You must be continuously hearing about asteroids since last two weeks. Asteroids are small, rocky objects that orbit the Sun. Although asteroids orbit the Sun like planets, they are much smaller than planets. However, if hits Earth, can cause massive destruction on the planet. It was just today, News Nation reported that asteroid 2019 NJ2, with an estimated diameter of around 207 feet, will reach its closes distance to Earth on July 19 at 7.53 pm (Standard Time). However, there is a less chance of the asteroid 2019 NJ2 hitting the Earth. And now, NASA has already detected another massive hazardous asteroid, named 2006 QQ23, that has high chances of hitting the Earth next month.

According to the NASA’s CNEOS, asteroid 2006 QQ23 is expected to zoom past Earth on August 10th at 7:23 AM ST at a distance of about 0.04977 au which is a rather shorter distance in astronomical terms. CNEOS has also been tagged the asteroid as ‘hazardous’, meaning it has a pretty good chance of hitting our planet if its orbit manages to intersect with Earth’s orbit.

The estimated diameter for the asteroid 2006 QQ23 has been estimated to around 250 m - 570 m (approx. to 1870 feet). This means that the asteroid is much bigger in size as compared to the Chelyabinsk meteor that entered Earth’s atmosphere over Russia back in 2013. That was 440 kilotons and left 1,500 people injured, mostly from glass flying out of smashed windows.

Also Read: Will it be the end of world TOMORROW, giant asteroid 2019 NJ2 set to fly dangerously close to Earth

According to a recent report published by spacetelescope.org says that there are more than 7 lakh asteroids that have been found in space. It further added that asteroids are mainly found in an area called the ‘main belt’, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

Coming back to asteroid 2006 QQ23, if hits Earth, can cause massive damage to our planet. 

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