Asteroid bigger than the Empire State Building could crash into the Earth

An asteroid called 2015 BN509 was caught flying past the Earth

A peanut-shaped asteroid bigger than the Empire State Building could someday hit Earth, Nasa has warned.

The space, called 2015 BN509, rock came close to earth last week when he flew to 44 000 mph (70 500 km).

At its closest approach, it came just 14 times the distance between Earth and the moon.

NASA called the asteroid, including about 200 metres (660 ft) wide by 400 meters (1 310 feet) long, as "potentially dangerous."

An asteroid called 2015 BN509 was caught flying past the Earth on February 6 and Nasa warned the object is 'potentially hazardous' - meaning it might one day crash into our planet

For comparison, the Empire State Building is 381 meters (1 250 feet) high.

The asteroid was captured by beating at point-blank range by a giant radio telescope called the Observatory of Arecibo.

Dr. Edgard Rivera-Valentine, planetologist with the universities Space Research Association, which is studying the data of the Observatory of Arecibo in Puerto Rico, said the Business Insider: "the form of peanut just because it's a binary to contact where both [asteroids] could not successfully in orbit between them and fell together.

One in six asteroids can be classified as binary contact objects, according to Dr. Rivera-Valentin.

Dr. Rivera-Valentine's day, the activity of asteroids such as 2015 BN509 record can tell us more about the probability of an object hit the Earth.

He said: 'Arecibo goes beyond acting as a fortune teller, we can characterize these objects.

'We can study their size, shape, spin state, composition, and near-surface geology.'

'An asteroid impact, unlike other natural catastrophes, can actually be avoided. 

Pictured is the orbital diagram of near-Earth asteroid 2015 BN509. The space rock, known as 2015 BN509, came close to Earth last week when it flew past at 44,000mph (70,500km)


The asteroid was caught flying close range - about 14 times the distance between Earth and the moon - on by a giant radio telescope called The Arecibo Observatory, pictured, in Puerto Rico

Usable by Nasa Arecibo data to inform a planetary defense mission.

NASA put in place a Department of planetary defense for the tackleof threats posed by NEOs (NEOs) last year.

Each year, about 1,500 NEOs are identified, and Nasa has already identified more than 90 percent of NEOs 1 kilometer above.

The Agency U.S. space proposed the construction of an infrared space telescope called NEOCam to help locate more NEOs.

"The NEOCAM project strives to identify activities that could be donethis year, which would reduce the technical annex and the cost of therisk of a future mission," said David Schurr, Deputy Director of Nasa's planetary science program.