14 DAY TRIAL // This coming Sunday, July 19, yet another asteroid will buzz by our planet. The space rock, dubbed 2011 UW-158, is expected to come within 2.4 million kilometers (1.5 million miles) of Earth.
Just to put things into perspective, this distance is about 6 times greater than that between our planet and it's nearly life-long companion, the Moon. So, no, there is no need to worry that it might hit us.
Scientists over at NASA estimate that this asteroid that will fly by Earth just hours from now has a diameter of 330 to 750 meters (roughly 1,100 to 2,500 feet), meaning that, at least when compared to other space rocks that have visited us in the past, it is quite big.
The asteroid was discovered a while back, in October 2011, with the help of the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System, essentially a collection of astronomical cameras and telescopes.
Impressive size aside, what is truly mindboggling about 2011 UW-158 is the fact that, by the looks of it, it packs vast amounts of platinum. In fact, the asteroid is rumored to carry so much of this valuable element that it is worth about $5.4 trillion (€4.9 trillion).
Then again, it's not its assumed eye-popping worth that has scientists all worked up. Au contraire, the reason they plan to study it as it moves past us is because the visit is an extraordinary event in itself.
“It’s always fun when an asteroid whooshes past our world,” astronomer Bob Berman commented on this upcoming cosmic visit in an interview.