Asteroid 3 times the size of Taj Mahal to whizz past Earth

A massive asteroid, thrice the size of the Taj Mahal, is set to whizz past the earth on July 24 but would not pose a threat to the planet.

NASA revealed the e size of the asteroid to be 220 meters (in diameter). The space agency further disclosed that the burning piece of space stone, named ‘2008 Go20’ hurtling towards the earth at a speed of 18,000 miles per hour, an average of eight kilometres per second.

Dr Subhendu Pattnaik, the deputy director of the Pathani Samanta Planetarium in Odisha's Bhubaneswar has assured that there is no need to worry. 

Also read | World Asteroid Day 2021: How prepared are we for a dangerous collision?

Speaking with ANI, he said, "We should not panic. We can safely say that it will not hit the earth".

"This asteroid has visited Earth at a much closer distance of 19 lakh km and 29 lakh km in 1935 and 1977 respectively. At that time, it flew away and never came towards Earth. This time it is around 45 lakh km, which is about 11 to 12 times the Earth-Moon distance, so there is no danger of hitting Earth," he added.

As per Pattnaik, 2008 GO20 will be closest to Earth on Sunday at 11:21pm Indian Standard Time (IST). 

Asteroids are minor planets situated in the inner solar system. Large asteroids are sometimes called “planetoids”. 

There are millions of asteroids in our solar system that hail from violent events in our solar system and bodies that never grew large enough to become planets. Most asteroids can be located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.