In a reminder of how chaotic it can get in our galactic neighbourhood, three asteroids are expected to make fly-bys of Earth on 24 July. The closest of these asteroids — called 2019 OD — is expected to fly past our Earth at a distance of 3,53,050 kilometres, which is fairly close in astronomical terms. To put things in perspective, the Moon (which is ~3.84 lakh kilometres away) will be further away from the Earth than asteroid 2019 OD will be at its closest during the fly-by.
2019 OD, which was discovered just three weeks ago by NASA, is expected to zip past the Earth at 1.31 pm UTC (7.01 pm IST). At its widest point, the asteroid is 394 feet, and travelling at dizzying speeds of roughly 69,000 km per hour. That said, NASA is yet to tag the asteroid as hazardous, as it poses an extremely low risk of hitting Earth during its flyby.
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