Uploaded January 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — An asteroid the size of the Washington Monument will come around 7.2 million kilometers from Earth on January 24, according to NASA.
At between 84 and 190 meters wide, NASA considers asteroid 2017 XC62 ‘potentially hazardous’ because asteroids over 140 meters could release at least a thousand times more energy than the first atomic bomb on impact with Earth, according to the Davidson Institute of Science.
Of course, it's unlikely the asteroid will hit earth, as the closest asteroid 2017 XC62 is predicted to come to Earth is more than 17 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
However, even at such a safe distance, it’s clear why asteroids like this one occupy such an oversized place in the popular imagination.
The last time a large asteroid struck the planet was in 2013, when a 19-meter-wide asteroid exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, causing damage to around 7,500 buildings and 1,500 people.
But that pales in comparison to the last time an object the size of 2017 XC62 is believed to have hit the Earth, on June 30, 1908. Encyclopedia Britannica says back then 2,000 square kilometers of trees were flattened near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in central Siberia and eyewitnesses at the time described a fireball lighting the horizon, followed by trembling ground and hot winds strong enough to throw people down to the ground.
SOURCES: NASA, The Jerusalem Post, Davidson Institute of Science Education
ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=2017%20XC62&view=VOPC
jpost.com/science/article-692547
https://davidson.weizmann.ac.il/en/online/sciencenews/first-test-planetary-defense-against-asteroid
Science Advances, Space.com, Inverse
science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abj7601
space.com/meteorites-reveal-how-earth-mars-formed
inverse.com/science/earth-mars-shared-origin
NASA, The Washington Post
nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-invites-media-to-launch-of-double-asteroid-redirection-test
washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/10/06/nasa-asteroid-dart-dimorphos
Business Insider, NASA, Space.com
businessinsider.com/nasa-asteroid-simulation-reveals-need-years-of-warning-2021-5?r=US&IR=T
nasa.gov/feature/saving-earth-from-asteroids
space.com/planetary-defense-asteroid-impact-scenario-exercise-2021
Science Direct journal, Reuters, NASA, South China Morning Post
sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S001910352100261X
reuters.com/lifestyle/science/chinese-researchers-propose-deflecting-armageddon-asteroids-with-rockets-2021-07-07
nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020/bennu-top-ten
scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3139914/how-23-giant-chinese-rockets-could-save-world-doomsday-asteroid
WASHINGTON — An asteroid the size of the Washington Monument will come around 7.2 million kilometers from Earth on January 24, according to NASA.
At between 84 and 190 meters wide, NASA considers asteroid 2017 XC62 ‘potentially hazardous’ because asteroids over 140 meters could release at least a thousand times more energy than the first atomic bomb on impact with Earth, according to the Davidson Institute of Science.
Of course, it's unlikely the asteroid will hit earth, as the closest asteroid 2017 XC62 is predicted to come to Earth is more than 17 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
However, even at such a safe distance, it’s clear why asteroids like this one occupy such an oversized place in the popular imagination.
The last time a large asteroid struck the planet was in 2013, when a 19-meter-wide asteroid exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, causing damage to around 7,500 buildings and 1,500 people.
But that pales in comparison to the last time an object the size of 2017 XC62 is believed to have hit the Earth, on June 30, 1908. Encyclopedia Britannica says back then 2,000 square kilometers of trees were flattened near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in central Siberia and eyewitnesses at the time described a fireball lighting the horizon, followed by trembling ground and hot winds strong enough to throw people down to the ground.
SOURCES: NASA, The Jerusalem Post, Davidson Institute of Science Education
ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=2017%20XC62&view=VOPC
jpost.com/science/article-692547
https://davidson.weizmann.ac.il/en/online/sciencenews/first-test-planetary-defense-against-asteroid
Science Advances, Space.com, Inverse
science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abj7601
space.com/meteorites-reveal-how-earth-mars-formed
inverse.com/science/earth-mars-shared-origin
NASA, The Washington Post
nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-invites-media-to-launch-of-double-asteroid-redirection-test
washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/10/06/nasa-asteroid-dart-dimorphos
Business Insider, NASA, Space.com
businessinsider.com/nasa-asteroid-simulation-reveals-need-years-of-warning-2021-5?r=US&IR=T
nasa.gov/feature/saving-earth-from-asteroids
space.com/planetary-defense-asteroid-impact-scenario-exercise-2021
Science Direct journal, Reuters, NASA, South China Morning Post
sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S001910352100261X
reuters.com/lifestyle/science/chinese-researchers-propose-deflecting-armageddon-asteroids-with-rockets-2021-07-07
nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020/bennu-top-ten
scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3139914/how-23-giant-chinese-rockets-could-save-world-doomsday-asteroid
