‘Burj Khalifa-sized’ asteroid flew by earth

An asteroid named (153201) 2000 WO107, that is more than 800 metre high and over 500 metre wide – bigger than skyscraper Burj Khalifa – barrelled past earth on November 29 and closest to our planet.

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Key-Points

Burj Khalifa is the world’s tallest building with a height of 829.8 metre and asteroid 2000 WO107, which was discovered in 2000, has a diameter is 820 metre.

The massive asteroid has been classified as a Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA). NEA is a group of comets and asteroids pulled into the orbit due to the gravitational forces of nearby planets, which allows them to enter the Earth’s neighbourhood.

Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has classified it as a ‘Potentially Hazardous Asteroid’ due to its predicted close pass with Earth.