Asteroid 1979XB holds the 2nd position on the European Space Agency (ESA) Risk List for Near-Earth Asteroids. It is predicted to have a chance of impace sometime midway through this century. It's size is huge at 700 m (2,300 ft), and an impact of 1979XB will be a catastrophic event. The orbit of the space rock is still somewhat unreliable. You can find the best estimate in the visualization below.
Where is Asteroid 1979XB now?
Currently 1979 XB is --,---,--- (--,---,---) from earth, racing through the solar system at --,--- (--,---, --) . It is getting - (-) closer to earth every second.
Since midnight last night it got 531,068 km (331,917 mi) closer Since you started looking at this page it got 0 km (0 mi) closer
Will it hit or miss Earth?
This asteroid is categorised as a hazardous near earth object. This means that, altough the distances at which the space rock is passing seem large, only a small variation of the orbit in fractions of a degree, means that 1979 XB could suddenly come a lot closer to the earth. There is disagreement about the next predicted approach. Some sources say 1979 XB could surprise us in 2024, however this could not be verified.
This NEA was discovered in 1979 by the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia.
Photo Credit and other: NASA, ESO/S. Brunier