Published on January 23, 2018
An asteroid 2002 AJ129 larger than 12 football fields that is set to pass near Earth early next month is being watched by NASA as a “potentially hazardous asteroid” or PHA.
The asteroid, named 2002 AJ129, is estimated by NASA to be as many as 0.68 miles in diameter—more than the height of the world’s largest building, the Burj Khalifa, and the width of Central Park, both of which are about half a mile.
On Feb. 4, 2002, AJ129 is set to pass as close as 2,492,834 miles from Earth, according to an April 2017 prediction, at speeds of 67,000 mph, the Daily Mail reports.
While that may seem like a long way away, NASA monitors any asteroids within 28 million miles from Earth, called “near-Earth objects,” as potentially dangerous, NASA reports.
