‘Harmless” Asteroid The Size of New York City Skyscraper Heading Towards Earth This Weekend

Cue Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing." Call up Ben Affleck and Bruce Willis. We have an asteroid heading toward Earth folks.

Asteroids Passing By Earth This Week

Okay, I may be being a bit dramatic. But according to NASA, they are currently monitoring an asteroid that is "roughly the size of the Empire State Building."

In a report from Pix 11, they write "NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office said it’s closely monitoring the asteroid and other objects near Earth."

I can't be the only one who thinks this sounds like a line from an end-of-the-world-themed movie, right? The Empire State Building-sized asteroid hurling towards Earth is also known as 2008 OS7 and was discovered in, you guessed it, 2008.

Thankfully,  2008 OS7 will miss Earth by 1.7 million miles. Phew!

NASA Has a Plan If Things Go Off Track

If you're anything like me and a constant worrier, don't worry. If the asteroid goes off-track NASA has a plan in place. apparently, it's called their "National Near-earth Object Preparedness Plan." Pix 11 reports:

NASA said it’s prepared for the astronomical event with its national near-Earth object preparedness plan. The agency would use a gravity tractor to pull the object off its track and send up one of its dart rockets to strike the object enough to make it wobble off its trajectory.

They add that in a worst-case scenario, NASA said they "would use nuclear power to obliterate the object in space." Thankfully, it will be some time until we see OS7 2008, NBC  explains that once the asteroid whizzes by on Friday, February 2nd, 2024 we won't see it again until 2032.

So we can all rest easy...or can we?

NBC News reports "The harmless flyby is one of several encounters this week." Apparently, 3 smaller asteroids will "harmlessly buzz Earth on Friday (2/2/24)."  That's not all! There will be another 2 asteroids on Saturday and another on Sunday.

On a brighter note, literally and figuratively, there are a few super moons and full moons that we'll get to see light up the sky this year. Take a gander at our Full Moon calendar below: