Don't panic but a large asteroid is heading our way

Nasa is keeping a close eye on an asteroid heading towards Earth which they have labelled "potentially hazardous."

The asteroid, which has been named 2002 AJ129 is currently hurtling towards Earth at the speed of 67,000mph and will come within just 2.5 million miles of the planet.

Nasa has given the rock the "potentially hazardous" status as they always do this when an asteroid is within 4.6 million miles of the Earth.

2002 AJ129 is 0.7 miles wide, making it longer than the tallest building in the world Burj Kalifa, in Dubai (0.5 miles high). Needless to say, it would cause quite a bit of damage if it were to hit us.

Picture: iStock/Getty Images

Research from 2016 found that if an asteroid of this size hit the Earth it could potentially bring about a new ice age, with temperatures falling by 8°C around the globe.

This effect would last for several years, making the Earth a darker, drier and colder place, with the dust created by the impact taking as long as six years to settle back into the Earth.

Furthermore, the research suggested that soot would remain in the Earth's atmosphere ten years after the event, which doesn't sound great at all.

As Charles Bardeen of the National Centre for Atmospheric Research said at the time:

These would not be pleasant times.

Fortunately, none of those scenarios are likely as Nasa believe that the asteroid will pass safely by on 4 February without incident.

Via: Giphy

Never forget, space is big...

You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.”

HT Maxim

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