Will asteroid collide with Earth on 29 August? Comparing with one causing extinction of dinosaurs

NASA warns that there is no need to splurge because it should not get close enough to go collision.

An asteroid about 150 m in diameter will pass near Earth on August 29. Called 2016 NF23, the space object will be one of the largest to approach Earth in recent years.

Despite being considered potentially dangerous because of the distance of just over 480 million kilometers away from our planet, NASA warns that there is no need to splurge because it should not get close enough to go collision.

This is because the asteroid trajectory is far from presenting any danger. The distance between the trajectory of the rock and our planet is the same as that between the Earth and the Moon, which is a very safe margin that nothing catastrophic will happen.

So there's nothing to worry about because there is no chance that this asteroid will collide with our planet. And even if that happened, the impact would not be so destructive. Of course, the impact of a body of this size can destroy a large city and cause countless deaths but is far from being a true planet-destroyer.

For example, the body that struck Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula a few million years ago responsible for creating the Chicxulub crater and for the extinction of dinosaurs had a diameter estimated between about 9.5 km and 16 km. So, the 2016 NF23 does not even tickle that close.