A massive asteroid comparable in size to the US Pentagon is set to fly close to Earth in late August.
Dubbed 2016 AJ193, the asteroid is considered "potentially hazardous" due to its close proximity to Earth. It has also been categorized as an Apollo-class asteroid, meaning its orbit, which revolves around the sun approximately every six years, crosses that of the planet.
Asteroids frequently fly by the Earth, with a large asteroid comparable in size to the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt having passed by on July 25, and another one of similar size, if not slightly bigger, set to fly by on July 31.
But 2016 AJ193 is in another weight class entirely. As noted by data compiled by Space Reference from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the asteroid is estimated to be larger than 99% of all asteroids. With a diameter an estimated 1.37 kilometers, its size is more comparable to the diameter of the US Pentagon.
For reference, this would be over one and a half times bigger than Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the world's largest skyscraper at 830 meters, and over three times the size of New York's iconic Empire State Building, which spans 443.2 meters, and nearly four and a half times the size of France's Eiffel Tower, which has a height of 324 meters. It's nearly one and a half times the size of the diameter of the Vatican City, Earth's smallest country.
Though considered potentially hazardous, the asteroid is not expected to impact when it passes by Earth on August 21. Current calculations put 2016 AJ193 as flying only 3,427,445 kilometers away from the Earth, which is considerably farther away than the moon. As such, its risk if of impact is low. In fact, the Earth is considered completely safe of any danger from asteroids for the next century, according to NASA.
However, there is still the potential for danger, as gravitational tugs have the potential for changing an object's path.
The danger of an asteroid impact remains among the worst possible natural disasters that could happen to the planet, as mankind does not have much in the way of combating them.
One method put forth by NASA and the Applied Physics Lab at John Hopkins University is the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Mission, which would see a spacecraft essentially "punch" an asteroid in order to deflect it, adjusting the trajectory ever so slightly in order to shift its course.
This project is set to be tested soon, on an asteroid far away from the planet. However, a more immediate possible solution was proposed by Airbus, which would see TV satellites essentially hijacked and repurposed in order to deflect an asteroid – and this solution could only take a few months to get ready and launch.
Regardless, NASA and other organizations keep a watchful eye on the sky for any asteroids nearing the planet, including the use of special "asteroid hunter" telescopes.