Next week, an asteroid capable of destroying an entire city will fly past Earth. NewScientist writes about this on May 13.
Asteroid 2026JH2, or the city killer as it's nicknamed, is predicted to pass Earth at a distance of about 90,917 km – just a quarter of the distance between us and the Moon.
“In astronomical terms, this is the closest you can get without colliding with the object,” says Mark Norris from the University of Lancashire in the UK.
According to LiveScience, 32 thousand km/h, and the closest approach will occur on May 18 at 18.00 Eastern time (02.00 May 19 Kyiv time). It will be closer to an observer on Earth than some spacecraft, such as the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), but will only be visible through good binoculars or a telescope.
Scientists claim that despite the close flight distance, the probability of a collision with the Earth is zero.
