An asteroid the size of the Eiffel Tower will soon approach Earth, with NASA experts predicting that the giant rock could come closest to our planet on 11 December.
According to US space agency reported back in November that an asteroid classified as "potentially hazardous" passes next to the Earth. This category includes celestial bodies that can come closer than 7.5 million kilometres to our planet and have a diameter of at least 150 metres.
The small planet, 4660 Nereus (temporary designation 1982 DB), will pass relatively close to Earth, 3.8 million kilometres away on Saturday, approaching at 14:51 Hungarian time. from a csillagaszat.hu The 330-metre-wide rock belongs to the Apollo asteroid group, which is characterised by the fact that it crosses the Earth's path from time to time due to its orbit around the Sun.
The planet, named after Nereus, the ancient sea god of Greek mythology, was discovered by Eleanor F. Helin in 1982. It is estimated that Nereus will pass Earth about 12 times in the coming decades, with its closest approach on 14 February 2060, when it will travel about 1.1 million kilometres.
As part of the DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) space programme, a space probe was launched from California at the end of November to find out whether a device launched from Earth could redirect an asteroid that threatens to end the world. The space agency launched the device on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which will collide with a meteorite called Dimorphos, about 160 metres in diameter.
