It's just one thing after the other this year so it's not a surprise that NASA discovered a "school bus-sized" asteroid called 2020 SW and it will pass by Earth today. The asteroid was just discovered on September 18, in Tucson, Arizona and it's estimated to be somewhere between 15-30 feet in diameter is expected to pass by Earth with about 13,000 miles of breathing room. This falls below the orbit of our geostationary weather satellites which are located about 22,000 miles above earth's surface. The asteroid's closest approach to Earth will occur around 7:12 a.m. ET, as it soars over the Southeastern Pacific Ocean, near Australia and New Zealand. According to earthsky.org, its approach will be so close to earth, that our gravity will alter its speed and trajectory. Director of the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California says,
"There are a large number of tiny asteroids like this one, and several of them approach our planet as close as this several times every year."
The good news is that the asteroid is not on an impact trajectory with earth and if it were, our atmosphere would likely break it apart.
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