A 'potentially hazardous' space rock bigger than the London Eye is heading for a close encounter with Earth next week. The asteroid, called 2022MQ, is speeding through space at more than 12km per second and will pass through our home planet's orbit.
This latest astro-boulder comes hot on the heels of another chunk of rock that passed us by last month called 2013AX that got as close as 3.92 million miles to use - which in space terms is a whisker away.
And 2022MQ is forecast to make an even closer approach on Monday, passing just 1.79 million above us, reports The Star. NASA deems any large asteroid that comes within 4.65 million miles of Earth as 'potentially hazardous'.
There's no immediate danger from 2022MQ, though, which measures around 230 to 525 feet in diameter. On its current orbit, 2022MQ is not expected to come close to us again until 2033, although it will be much further away than it will be on Monday. A year later in 2034, though, it is expected to travel much nearer.
Anything outer space object longer than 100 metres would be large enough create a devastating force around ten 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.
