Massive Asteroid with a Size of the Empire State Building to Fly by Earth on Friday

A massive asteroid is heading towards Earth but is projected to safely fly by later this week.

The asteroid is estimated to have a size comparable with the Empire State Building in New York City.

Although the space rock has been projected to unlikely hit Earth, its size has the reported capability to destroy an entire continent on our planet.

The passage of space rocks near our planet (also called as near-Earth asteroids) is common. However, planet-killing asteroids are rare and there are no known complete measures for them yet.

However, current measures are already being conceptualized and developed with the aim of preventing an asteroid from directly hitting Earth.

Empire State Building-Sized Asteroid

(Photo : Ed Jones via Getty Images)

The massive asteroid is also called BH7, which has been projected to pass by Earth on Friday, Feb. 18, with a distance of approximately 2.9 million kilometers (1.8 million miles) from us.

When the BH7 asteroid passes Earth, it is even farther than the moon, which orbits our planet at a distance of 384,000 kilometers (236,606 miles).

The asteroid has an approximate width between 170 and 380 meters, the reason it is compared to the size of the Empire State Building.

The comparison is based on the maximum estimation of the rock.

Almost similar to the Apophis asteroid, the BH7 has the capacity to destroy an entire continent, as per the Jerusalem Post.

Also read: 'Potentially Hazardous' Asteroid Expected to Fly by Earth on March 4

Recent Asteroid Passages

Prior to the approach of the BH7 asteroid, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recorded on Tuesday, Feb. 15 the passage of five other asteroids named: 2022 CO6, 2022 CH7, 2022 CQ4, and 2022 CT6.

These recorded asteroids had only a comparable size with a bus or an airplane and posed no threat at all as their distance was also far enough to directly hit Earth.

Still, even space rocks are common and planet-killing asteroids are rare, NASA continues to monitor all asteroids due to the possibility that an asteroid could one day hit us.

According to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, a large asteroid hitting us one day is imminent and Earth has no complete defense or measures yet against it.

Earth's Planetary Defense System Against Asteroids

There are no currently unifying and complete defense measures yet against asteroids, especially against a planet-killing level space rock.

However, conceptualized defense strategies and ongoing test measures are underway to address the future challenge that one day an asteroid will hit us.

One of these instances is NASA's current engagement in a program called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission and the recent next-generation asteroid impact monitoring system, as per NASA's JPL.

NASA's DART mission aims to deflect an incoming asteroid towards Earth in the future.

There is a multitude of asteroids in our solar system, but NASA prioritizes the near-Earth asteroids (NEAs).

So far, approximately 28,000 NEAs have been detected as of December 2021.

Related article: Gigantic Asteroid Will Pass By Earth in 7 Years, Do We Have Defense Against Such Threats?