This Christmas Eve, children around the world may be hoping to catch a glimpse of Santa’s sleigh flying through the skies.
But NASA has warned that jolly Old Saint Nick won’t be the only thing whizzing over our heads this December 24.
A massive ‘Christmas Eve asteroid’ the size of a 10-story building will skim past Earth at 14,743mph.
According to NASA’s Asteroid Watch dashboard, asteroid 2024 XN1 should pass by harmlessly at a distance of 4.48 million miles (7.21 million km) from Earth.#
Although this will be a near miss by astronomical standards, experts say there is no chance of Christmas being ruined by a collision with this vast space rock.
Jess Lee, astronomer at the Royal Greenwich Observatory, told MailOnline: ‘It will be very far away, around 18 times further away from the Earth than the Moon is, and so with this predicted path won’t come close enough to hit the Earth.’
But at an estimated size of 29 to 70 metres (95-230 ft) in diameter, this is a stark reminder of just how close Earth can get to a deadly encounter.
If 2024 XN1 were to hit the planet, scientists estimate that it would impact with a force equivalent to 12 million tonnes of TNT and flatten an area of 700 square miles (2,000 square km).
The Christmas Eve asteroid was only spotted on December 12 as NASA and the European Space Agency’s (ESA) planetary defence systems noticed its approach.
After calculating its orbit, the agencies listed it as a ‘close approach’ – meaning that it is expected to pass within 4.65 million miles (7.5 million km) of Earth.
2024 XN1 will reach its closest point to Earth at 02:56 am GMT on the morning of Christmas Eve.
However, based on the size of the asteroid and its distance to Earth, the ESA only rates this as a ‘very frequent’ approach.
Nor has the ESA included 2024 XN1 on the ‘Risk List’ of objects with a non-zero probability of colliding with the planet.
This means that, despite passing within touching distance on the solar system scale, there is absolutely no chance of the Christmas Eve asteroid hitting Earth.
And while that is good news for Earth, at this distance the asteroid won’t be visible even to an amateur astronomer using their own telescope.
Yet, even for a relatively small asteroid the consequences of a potential impact would be devastating.
Ms Lee says: ‘If you’d like to compare it to a previous asteroid impact, the Tunguska Event in Russia in 1908 involved an asteroid which was a roughly similar size to this one.
‘It exploded above the ground and knocked down 80 million trees. The energy comparison estimates have ranged from 3-30 megatons of TNT’
After making its festive appearance next week, 2024 XN1 won’t come near Earth again until January 2032.
During this pass the rock will come even closer, reaching a minimum distance of 3.1 million miles (4.7 million km).
However, the Christmas Eve asteroid will make its closest pass in December of 2106 when it will skim past Earth at a distance of just 2.11 million miles (3.4 million km).
2024 XN1 won’t be the only space rock paying Earth a visit over the Christmas period.
On December 23, a small space rock named 2013 YB actually has a slim chance of slamming into Earth.
However, at less than 3m (10ft) in diameter, this rock is very likely to burn up in the atmosphere, producing nothing more dangerous than a particularly bright fireball.
Even the odds of that occurring are quite low as ESA only predicts a one in 52,356 chance of an impact.
On Christmas Day itself, an even larger asteroid named 2021 BA2 will make a remarkably close pass of Earth.
Based on its brightness, ESA estimates that this space rock could be between 30 to 70 (100-230 ft) metres in diameter – making it a potential ‘city killer’.
At 21:19 pm GMT on Christmas Day, 2021 BA2 will hit its closest point to Earth, passing by at just 1.71 million miles (2.76 million km).
But at more than seven times the distance to the moon, space agencies predict no risk of a collision between the asteroid and the planet.
The next truly large asteroid to pass by Earth won’t be until January 5, 2025, when a 400m (1,310 ft) asteroid will make a close pass of the planet.
This Eiffel Tower-sized space rock will blast past Earth at 49,660 miles per hour (79,920 kmph), reaching its closest point just 2.29 million miles (3.68 million km) from Earth.
