Stadium-sized asteroid to pass Earth Tuesday what do you need to know?

Asteroid 2006 WB will zoom by Earth on Tuesday, and astronomers say it’s one of nearly 40,000 near-Earth objects (NEO), which is not even the most exciting. Lowell Observatory astronomer and asteroid expert Nick Moskovitz said we know little about this asteroid coming by so close to Thanksgiving.This is because new NEOs are frequently discovered as technology has improved, not because the threat to Earth is growing. “The frequency of these things is it’s gotten to the point where I just can’t keep up.

And it’s a testament to really the capabilities of telescopic surveys that are out there scanning the night sky every night looking for new objects, and they’re getting really good at that,” he said. The European Space Agency’s Near Earth Object Coordination Centre recently highlighted notable NEOs making astronomically close passes of Earth this fall, including 2006 WB. There are nearly 40,000 NEOs, and more than 2,300 were discovered in 2024 alone.2006 WB is estimated to have a diameter of about 100 meters (380 feet) and is expected to reach as close as a little more than twice the distance from Earth to the Moon on Nov.26.

Another asteroid, 2010 WS, zoomed by closer to Earth last week, and their size estimates overlap. “The uncertainty associated with the size of these objects, neither one of these objects is well studied.We don’t know much about them.

We have large error bars associated with their actual size,” Moskovitz said.Asteroid 2006 WM is considered a stadium-sized object, but even that is an estimate.According to NASA’s NEO database, it could be larger, over 500 feet, or smaller. Large NEOs pass by Earth all the time, which sounds like bad news, but it’s fine.

No, really, it is. “A lot of these close encounters are not known until they’re actually happening, right? That’s because the objects are discovered when they’re easiest to see, and they’re easiest to see when they’re closest to us,” he sa...