'Potentially hazardous' asteroid to zoom past Earth today

The asteroid name 2020 ND is bigger than the London Eye and would zoom past Earth on July 24th

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has sent out a warning about a “potentially hazardous” asteroid that would cross by planet Earth today.

The asteroid, named 2020 ND, has an estimated size of 480 ft - even larger than the London Eye.

2020 ND is currently travelling at a speed of 48,000 kilometres per hour.

The asteroid is expected to maintain a distance of 0.034 astronomical units, or 5,086,328 kilometres from Earth. This means it is classified as a PHA or a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid.

“Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) are currently defined based on parameters that measure the asteroid’s potential to make threatening close approaches to the Earth. Specifically, all asteroids with a minimum orbit intersection distance (MOID) of 0.05 au or less are considered PHAs,” read a NASA statement.

However, an asteroid being classified as a PHA does not necessarily mean it is harmful.

According to the organisation, “It only means there is a possibility for such a threat. By monitoring these PHAs and updating their orbits as new observations become available, we can better predict the close-approach statistics and thus their Earth-impact threat.”