It's called 86666, measures 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) across

Oct 9, 2015 17:54 GMT  ·  By

Here we go again. Yet another asteroid is set to fly by our planet in just a few hours, and hordes of people are freaking out over this impending visit. 

Truth be told, the asteroid is quite a sight. Apparently, it measures around 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) across at its widest point, which makes it considerably bigger than other such space rocks that have approached our planet in recent times.

So, if it were to hit our dear old Earth, it would most definitely wipe out life as we know it. Well, either this or it would at least seriously rattle us.

The gargantuan cosmic boulder was discovered back in March 2010 by a team of researchers with the Catalina Sky Survey, a project meant to discover and track the movements of near-Earth objects such as comets and asteroids.

It's called 86666 (2000 FL10), which explains why some folks are going around calling it the “devil rock” asteroid. Because, you know, 666 is rumored to be the number of the biblical beast.

There is nothing to stress over, NASA reassures

Asteroid 86666 (2000 FL10) is estimated to be traveling through space at a speed of about 40,000 miles per hour (nearly 65,000 kilometers per hour).

Scientists say the space rock will fly by our planet this coming Saturday, October 10. It might be big and it might be fast, but NASA reassures there is absolutely nothing to worry about.

Specialists who have studied the asteroid's movements through space and who are quite familiar with its behavior say it will only come as close as 15 million miles (25 million kilometers) to our planet.

There is no risk that it will swerve all of a sudden and bump into us, so there really is no need to get all panicky over this “devil rock” from space.

“In response to Qs, asteroid 86666 (2000 FL 10) will safely pass Earth Oct 10 by over 15 million mi/25 million km. It poses zero threat,” US space agency NASA explains in a Twitter post.   

The asteroid's orbit
The asteroid's orbit

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As asteroid will fly by our planet this Saturday, October 10
The asteroid's orbit
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