NASA's asteroid tracker finds 4 new asteroids approaching Earth on February 14

NASA's Asteroid Tracker has revealed that our planet Earth will be hosting new asteroids hurtling towards it on February 14. According to the agency, as many as four asteroids will make their closest approach to the Earth although all of them would pass from a safe distance.

More about the asteroids

The asteroids have been named 2022 CF3, 2020 DF, 2022 CF7 and 2022 CF1 and each of them would skim past our planet at different times as they have different trajectories. According to NASA, the asteroid 2022 CF3, which is the largest one, is cruising at a speed of 9,000 miles per hour and will make its flyby from a distance of 1.5 million miles. On the other hand, the asteroid 2020 DF will fly past our planet from a distance of 933,000 miles. However, as mentioned above, all four of the space rocks pose no threat to a planet considering the distance they will maintain with Earth. 

This fleet of asteroids will be followed by 138971 or 2001 CB21, which is expected to make its closest approach to Earth on March 4. According to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the asteroid completes its orbit in 400 days and its next approach to Earth will be no earlier than 2043.

How deadly can asteroid collisions prove to be now?

The biggest asteroid collision occurred approximately 66 million years ago which wiped the dinosaurs out of existence. Our planet has not seen a major asteroid impact ever since although smaller ones have caused their fair share of destruction. The latest example of such an incident is the meteor explosion that occurred in the sky of Russia's Chelyabinsk in 2013, The asteroid was no bigger than 30 metres although its explosion mid-air shattered windows of many houses causing injury to the residents. Considering the expansion of human settlements over the years, any asteroid colliding with the ground can prove much more disastrous. 

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