(Express) – An asteroid taller than Big Ben’s clock tower will come barreling past our planet later today and approach closer than the Moon, NASA’s asteroid trackers have revealed. NASA expects the asteroid, dubbed 2019 OD, to skim our homeworld on a so-called “Earth Close Approach” trajectory. The asteroid will come flying by today (Wednesday, July 24) less than three weeks after first being spotted on July 5. NASA’s asteroid trackers estimate the space rock will close in on Earth around 2.31pm BST (1.31pm
UTC). When this happens, the giant asteroid will come hurtling by closer than the Moon. Asteroid 2019 OD is an Apollo-type Near-Earth Object or NEO. All NEOs are asteroids and comets that circle the Sun within the confines of the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter. NASA said: “Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) are comets and asteroids that have been nudged by the gravitational attraction of nearby planets into orbits that allow them to enter the Earth’s neighborhood. READ MORE
