Asteroid To Whiz By Earth This Week
An asteroid the size of London’s famous Big Ben clock tower is set to whiz past Earth this week.
The space rock, known as 2020 TGI, will fly safely past Earth on Thursday, Oct. 22, at 10:49 p.m. EST, according to NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies.
Researchers estimate 2020 TGI is traveling at a speed of roughly 30,700 miles per hour and will fly past the planet at a distance of just over 7 million miles.
Its most recent encounter with the planet was April 20, 2013, and it will not come close to Earth again until Feb. 6, 2024. Scientists estimate that 2020 TGI is between 154 and 360 feet wide.