At this rate, the space rock will reach Earth’s corner of space around 8.18am GMT (3.18am EST) on Sunday.
Asteroid AE5 is a so-called near-Earth object (NEO), meaning it can come dangerously close to our planet.
NEOs are all comets and asteroids that orbit the Sun from a distance of about 1.3 astronomical units.
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NEOs will sometimes come crashing into our planet to a devastating effect but depending on their size, Earth might be spared from major destruction.
Check out this next:
Asteroid news: We're sitting ducks warns Britain's leading asteroid hunter | Science |
Mr Tate is the director of The Spaceguard Centre – Britain’s only independent near-Earth object (NEO) tracking facility in Powys, Wales.
Unlike volcanic eruptions and devastating earthquakes, Mr Tate told Express.co.uk asteroids are the one threat that is certain but also one that can be certainly dealt with.
He said: “It’s the one natural hazard that we know of that could remove our species from existence, basically at any time in the space of about 90 minutes.
What is the Probability of a Huge World-Ending Asteroid Impact?
Fear of huge asteroid impacts is a little similar to the fear of flying. The probability of anything happening is very small, but it's the vivid thought of such a catastrophic event happening that can make some of us magnify the probability in our minds leading us to have an irrational fear of such an event.
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Space debris burns up in our atmosphere every day. Any space rock with a diameter of about 10 -meters ( 33 feet), will be destroyed in the Earth's atmosphere during thermal explosions.
Asteroid impact: Asteroid travelling at 50,000km per hour explodes above Puerto Rico | Science |
In a video of the unexpected asteroid, a bright streak of light can be seen before a small explosion occurs at the end of its trail.
According to calculations from the IMO, the small asteroid was about a metre in diameter, and entered the atmosphere at a staggering speed of 14 kilometres per second, or 50,400 kilometres per hour.
The IMO said: “On Friday, January 17 2020 Puerto Rico was witness to yet another extreme event. Just north of the island a small asteroid created a bright fireball in the sky.
And here's another article:
Bad Astronomy | Tracing a bright fireball back to its parent: the potentially hazardous asteroid
In 2017, a bright fireball burned up over Japan. If you had been standing right under it you would've seen it zip across the sky in a few seconds, getting as bright as Venus to the eye.
That's fairly typical for very bright meteors, but this one gets more interesting . It was caught on camera by 12 of the 27 cameras making up the SonotaCo Network, which watch the skies over Japan for just such an event. Astronomers then used all that data to backtrack the trajectory of the meteoroid * , which can then be used to calculate its orbital path before it hit us. What they found is a near-perfect match to the orbit of a small asteroid called 2003 YT1 !
Asteroid shock: 'Significant chance' asteroid will hit Earth expert warns | Science | News |
While the chances of a major asteroid hitting Earth are small – NASA believes there is a one in 300,000 chance every year that a space rock which could cause regional damage will hit – the devastating prospect is not impossible.
In 2013, a 65ft (20m) meteor exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, smashing windows and caused injuries to more than 1,000 people.
Experts had not anticipated the incident, leading to fears Earth could be surprised by a more devastating asteroid strike in the future.
Asteroid news: NASA reveals risk of extinction event space rock hitting Earth | Science | News |
According to the space agency, as reported by Interesting Engineering, there is a 0.000001 percentage chance of such a large asteroid hitting Earth each year. NASA searches for asteroids that could pose a threat to Earth via its Near Earth Object program.
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According to Interesting Engineering any rock less than 10 meters long will be destroyed by a thermal explosion.
Properties in Connecticut and Alabama have also taken damage from space rocks over the past century.
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