Asteroid the size of a plane to pass Earth today at more than 18,000mph

07 May 2023 , 11:33

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A pair of asteroids are set to soar past the planet Earth today (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Two asteroids are set to pass by the Earth today, with one the size of a plane and travelling at more than 30,000kph.

The first, known as 2023HT6, will come within 761,000 miles of the planet later and is around 67ft large, around the length of a World War Two bomber, according to experts from Nasa.

Later today another will also soar past the planet.

Although it will be a lot larger at 290 ft and described by Nasa at the size of a building, it will also be further away at more than 3.8million miles.

Any asteroid travelling within 30 million miles of Earth's orbit is classified as a NEO, and NASA classes them as "potentially hazardous objects” if they come within 4.6 million miles of Earth's orbit and having a diameter greater than 460 feet.

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So far, around 2,300 asteroids have been added to the “potentially hazardous” list, and while none of them spell imminent disaster there’s always a risk that their current orbits could be perturbed, sending them on a collision course with our planet.

The asteroids are the sizes of a plane and a building (Getty Images)

Last year a Nasa spacecraft deliberately crashed into an asteroid in a successful mission to nudge it off course as part of a planetary defence.

It is the first time humanity has altered the natural orbit of a such as the rocky moonlet.

NASA chief Bill Nelson said: "This is a watershed moment for planetary defence and a watershed moment for humanity.

The DART spacecraft achieved its main goal of changing the direction of an asteroid through sheer kinetic force, according to findings from telescope observations unveiled by NASA.

Known as a suicide test flight, the $330 million DART mission took place on September 26.

Seven years in the making, it marks the world's first test of a planetary defence system designed to prevent a potential doomsday meteorite collision with Earth.

The DART flight's target was an egg-shaped asteroid named Dimorphos – roughly the size of a football stadium.

It was orbiting a parent asteroid about five times bigger called Didymos once every 11 hours and 55 minutes.

Measurements taken of the asteroid's orbit before and after the collision showed its journey had been shortened by 32 minutes.

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This proves the method could be used to deflect an asteroid from a collision course with Earth, if such an asteroid were ever discovered.

Antony Clements-Thrower