NASA Discovers a Couple of Asteroids or Comets Speeding Toward Earth [Video]

With a couple of fast-moving celestial bodies in sight, the American Space Agency is still uncertain what those celestial bodies are exactly although one has been perceived to be a comet. All NASA knows at the moment is that the free-falling entities are creeping toward Earth.

This month, the globe will be able to get a viewing range of the identified heavenly thing since its position will be proximal to the third planet from the sun.

Meanwhile, as early as November last year, the space agency's comet and asteroid-tracking Neowise program has the peculiar matter on its radar. NASA has called it "2016 WF9."

This celestial body is 0.5 to one kilometer wide. Its position has allowed it to become grandly visible across the solar system.

From the sun, the enigmatic object will be farthest as it comes close to the planet Jupiter. At the rate of 4.9 Earth-years, the mysterious entity will make a fly-by within an asteroid belt before orbiting Mars and heads off to Earth.

According to Deputy Principal Investigator James "Gerbs" Bauer of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), "2016 WF9" has configurations affiliated with comets.

Still, NASA remains unsure as it only managed to track down the trail of the celestial body. Based on observations, the borderline between an asteroid and a comet is dull and foggy.

It must be pointed out that asteroids are small but rocky pieces that are near the sun. Most of these 600,000 matters can be found in the Asteroid Belt which is situated between Jupiter and Mars.

The properties that will remain visible will possibly define what the matter is over time. Even though the entity is dustless, the presence of a gas cloud provides it a description that is associated with being a comet.

By February 2017, "WF9" will be about 51 million kilometers or 32 million miles from Earth.

Although it appears that the object is really close to the globe, the US space agency has said that the unidentified celestial body does not pose a risk to Earth anytime soon.