Big Asteroid ‘The Rock’ makes Closest Pass to Earth in 400yrs
An asteroid nicknamed “The Rock”
after pro wrestler Dwayne Johnson, due to its massive
size, is set to make its closest pass to Earth in 400 years today. The
asteroid, which is travelling through space at about 33 meters per second (73
mph), is estimated to be between 650 meters and 1.4 kilometres in length.
It will make its closest approach
to Earth in 400 years at 13:24 BST on April 19, at a distance of 1.1 million
miles – or about 4.6 times the distance from Earth to the moon. The asteroid
will not come this close to Earth again for at least the next 500 years. Astronomers
first learned about "The Rock" (officially called 2014 JO25) three
years ago, when it was observed by the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona.
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