Asteroid collision
Don Davis via University of Florida

NASA, the United States space agency has warned that two asteroids, as long as 120 meters in diameter will have its close approach with earth on Sunday, November 25.

The first asteroid that will come close to the earth is being named '2009 WB105', and it is expected to show up at around 12.14 PM GMT (5.45 PM IST). As per experts at NASA, this asteroid could be measuring somewhere around 53 meters to 120 meters in diameter. Even in its smallest speculated size, this asteroid could be as large as an Olympic swimming pool, and if it is of 120 meters in diameter, it could be much bigger than football grounds.

Even though the space bodies traveling at a speed of 40,000 miles per hour will not strike the earth, NASA is planning to keenly observe its trajectory as it is a Near Earth Object (NEO). NASA defines NEO as any space bodies on an orbital path around the Sun of 1.3 astronomical unit (AU). It should be noted that one AU equals about 92.95 million miles, which is actually the distance between the earth and the sun.

2009 WB150 is expected to come as close as 3.7 million miles away from the earth, and it is undoubtedly a very short distance in astronomical terms. Just five hours after the close flyby of WB150, another relatively smaller asteroid will also make its close approach.

A few days back, on November 20, 2018, two other asteroids measuring 12 meters to 35 meters in diameter made its close approach. Interestingly, space agencies like NASA are detecting more and more near-earth objects every day, which has made many believe that our planet will collide with a rogue space body one day or the other.

Dr Iain McDonald, a top scientist at Cardiff University believes that earth's collision with a rogue space body is just a matter of time. While talking on the BBC's Today programme, McDonald claimed that devastating events like asteroid hits had happened in the past, and such dreaded events will be repeated in the future too.

In the meantime, a section of conspiracy theorists has started claiming that an increase in the number of asteroid approaches could be the indication of an impending apocalypse. These conspiracy theorists believe that rogue planet Nibiru is now in a collision course, and the asteroids which are making close approaches are indicating the arrival of the killer planet.