Another huge asteroid which is larger than the London Eye is heading for a close encounter with Earth next week.
The rock, known as 2022MQ, is racing through space at over 12km per second and is set to crash through our planet’s orbit.
This latest near-miss comes just over a month after 2013AX passed us by.
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That specimen, which measured 440ft in diameter, flew 3.92million miles above us, which is pretty close in space terms.
Any large asteroid set to come within 4.65million miles of Earth is classified as “potentially hazardous” by NASA scientists– and the latest asteroid on their radar falls into this category.
Estimates suggest that 2022MQ, which measures around 230 to 525 feet in diameter, will fly around 1.79million miles above the Earth on June 27.
Fortunately there is little need to panic just yet as although the giant rock is whizzing around the space and classified as a near Earth object, humanity is in no actual danger.
(Image: Getty Images/Science Photo Library RF)
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In astronomical terms though, it is still considered something of a close shave.
On their current orbits, 2022MQ is not expected to come close to us again until 2033, although it will be much further away than it will be next week. A year later in 2034, though, it is expected to travel much nearer.
Anything outer space object over 100 metres long would be large enough create a devastating force around 10 times more destructive than a volcanic eruption, according to scientists.
In 1908 a meteor that hit eastern Siberia and flattened entire forests measured around 200 metres.
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