NASA shocked the world when it confirmed a huge asteroid about two miles wide will "almost" touch base with Earth in the next 48 hours. The asteroid is named 86666 (2000 FL10) and is predicted to safely move past Earth on Saturday, at 40,000 miles per hour. This will be the biggest asteroid to come closest to our planet in recent times, Express reports.
There is no confirmation of the exact size of the asteroid, but the estimated size of two miles wide makes the rock more than 15 times bigger than other asteroids on NASA's radar. If it suddenly decides to hit Earth, life would be wiped out, Sunday World reports.
The space agency has released an animated projection of the encounter, showing how close the asteroid would be with Earth.
86666 (2000 FL10) was first spotted 16 years ago and its orbit was determined to cross the Earth's orbit, similar to that of the 1862 Apollo, making it a "near-Earth" asteroid.
NASA continues to keep a close eye on the asteroid during its whole "flyby," and while it will be a "near-Earth event," the space rock is still several million miles away and is unlikely to strike Earth, Mirror reports.
