A massive asteroid will pass “close” to Earth on November 29. But there is an important piece of information missing from this information: how far from Earth.
Asteroid (153201) 2000 WO107 is also said to be the same height as the tallest building in the world, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, which is about 2,722 feet, just over half a mile, tall. It actually has a total mass of 510 meters, about 1,670 feet, according to JPL/NASA.
This asteroid is expected to approach Earth on Sunday, November 29. And it will go to 11.2 times the Earth-Moon distance, a very safe distance.
News that refers only to the size of asteroids dangerously close to Earth often omit that they will be too far away to pose a risk to our planet.
Planetary defense
In 2005, the United States Congress assigned NASA a goal of finding 90% of near-Earth asteroids that are approximately 460 feet (140 meters) in size or more.
The space agency responded to that call with the creation of the Center for the Study of Near-Earth Objects (CNEOS), which continuously tracks them.
The next time you see a claim about an asteroid approaching Earth, you can view the latest data from the center on upcoming close approaches here.