WASHINGTON — NASA warned that asteroid 2002 PZ39 will approach Earth on Saturday.<br /><br />This asteroid is moving at a speed of nearly 55,000 km per hour relative to Earth and has a diameter of between 440 meters to 990 meters.<br /><br />According to NASA, should a rocky asteroid bigger than 25 meters but smaller than 1 km were to hit Earth, the meteorite would likely cause local damage to the impact area.<br /><br />A meteorite larger than one or two kilometers in size would be capable of worldwide effects.<br /><br />Business Insider reports that most asteroids occupy orbits between Jupiter and Mars, so they pose little danger to the Earth.<br /><br />The outlet adds that 2002 PZ39 is one of the rare exceptions.<br /><br />NASA considers this asteroid a near Earth object and estimates that it will miss earth by a margin of 15.2 lunar distances — or 5.8 million km — at 11:00 pm on February 15.
