The National Aeronautics Space Agency (NASA) has revealed that an asteroid almost triple the size of a football pitch and as tall as the Eiffel Tower is headed towards Earth in December this year. Fortunately, though, the asteroid poses no threat to the planet. The asteroid, 4660 Nereus, has been classified by NASA as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA). The asteroid monitor of NASA has predicted that it will come close to the planet on December 11. According to the report, the distance of the asteroid from the Earth will be 3.9 million kilometres i.e., 10 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon. The asteroid is 330 meters long. According to Space Reference, 90 percent of the asteroids in space are smaller than Nereus, but when compared with large asteroids, Nereus is tiny. Just like the earlier asteroids have been doing, Nereus will pass by the earth as it travels through the Sun’s orbit.

Nereus, discovered by US astronomer Eleanor F. Helin in 1982, is reportedly a member of the Apollo group of asteroids that cross the path of the planet as the asteroid orbits the Sun.

The asteroid orbits the sun every 664 days though it is predicted that after passing through the earth on December 11, the asteroid will not pass by the planet for at least the next 10 years. And it is not the first-time large asteroids have travelled the Earth’s orbit.

According to scientists, it will pass through again on March 2, 2031. After this again, it will come close to the earth in November 2050. It will reach closest to Earth after 40 years i.e. in February 2060. Earlier in September, a giant asteroid had passed through Earth’s orbit. Its size was the size of Big Ben’s clock tower and it went through the earth at a speed of 50,000mph.

NASA Warns of a Gigantic Asteroid Headed Towards Earth. Should Humans Be Worried?

The asteroid, 4660 Nereus, has been classified by NASA as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA). The asteroid monitor of NASA has predicted that it will come close to the planet on December 11.