NASA asteroid WARNING: Asteroid bigger than Big Ben headed for Earth NEXT WEEK

AN asteroid larger than London’s iconic Big Ben clock tower will whizz past the planet at incredible speeds next week, NASA has warned.

The space rock, dubbed Asteroid 2018 QU1, is longer than nine double decker buses in a row and taller than the Westminster landmark.

NASA estimates the asteroid measures somewhere between 246ft (75m) and 557ft (170m) in diameter. According to the US space agency, Asteroid QU1 will make a so-called “Earth close approach” on Tuesday, September 11. Asteroid QU1 will skim the planet around 4.40am BST (3.40am UTC) from a distance of 0.028 astronomical units (au). 

NASA said: “In terms of orbital elements, NEOs are asteroids and comets with perihelion distance less than 1.3au. “Near-Earth Comets (NECs) are further restricted to include only short-period comets i.e., orbital period less than 200 years. “The vast majority of NEOs are asteroids, referred to as Near-Earth Asteroid.” Asteroid QU1 will zip by at breakneck speeds of around 12.52 km per second or 28,006.4mph

Imagine the Concorde airliner which flew at twice the speed of sound at around 1,350mph (2,179kmh). This asteroid is more than 20 times as fast as the Concorde. After QU1 misses Earth next Tuesday, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory does not predict another flyby. But just nine days after QU1 enters the Earth’s vicinity, a much smaller asteroid is expected to come much closer to Earth.

NASA asteroid warning: The Elizabeth Clock Tower housing Big Ben is 315 feet (96m) tall (Image: GETTY)

On September 20, around 10.09pm BST (9.09pm UTC) Asteroid 2017 SL16 will zip past. The asteroid will approach Earth from a distance of 2.03 million miles (3.26 million km) or 8.29 lunar distances. SL16 will continue to return around the same date for the next seven years. One astronomical unit is the equivalent of the distance between the Earth and the Sun, which is more than 93 million miles (149.6 million km) from our home wold.

Thus means Asteroid QU1 will fly by at a distance of 2.6 million miles (4.18 million km).  This gap is equivalent to just over 10-times the distance to the Moon – 10.9 lunar distances. However, any asteroid or comet which even approaches our home world within 0.05au is immediately classified by NASA as a “Near-Earth Object” (NEO).