An asteroid will narrowly miss striking the planet tonight, the closest an asteroid of this size has been to Earth in the last 300 years.
EarthSky reports the asteroid is 197 to 427 feet, or “as big across as a city block,” Dr. Erin Ryan, an asteroid expert at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, tells NBC News.
Sky watchers can see the asteroid fly past at 6:05 p.m. Eastern Time with a telescope.
The Northholt Branch Observatories in London began livestreaming the asteroid last night on Facebook.
“There are many close approaches from asteroids, [but] most are very small. Only very few objects of [this] size have ever been seen coming closer than the Moon,” NBO astronomer Guy Wells told Newsweek.
Albert Mohler, the president of Southern Seminary, posted a podcast on the asteroid this morning.
Why it’s important to know that an asteroid’s near miss is no mere accident. #TheBriefing https://t.co/1FyZpATTxp
— Albert Mohler (@albertmohler) May 15, 2018
Asteroids and other astronomical phenomenons are mentioned frequently in the Bible, especially in reference to the end times described in Revelation 8:
The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mixed with blood, and they were thrown upon the earth. A third of the trees and all the green grass were burned up.
Then the second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea became blood, third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
The third angel sounded, and a great star from heaven, burning like a torch, fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters. The name of this star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter.
The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day had no light, and likewise a third of the night.
NASA’s previous asteroid predictions lined up with Revelation 8, as well.
As the Christian Broadcasting Network previously reported:
Scientists say that a large asteroid would create huge earthquakes and massive tidal waves, killing millions.
Revelation speaks of the sun being blotted out for three days. Biblical scholars say an asteroid strike would produce this dust, preceded by an event, like a great earthquake or other disaster, that would end life on Earth.
NASA spends millions of dollars to track any asteroids that fly near our planet and they say the earth actually gets hit by a 100 tons of meteorite activity every day. However, every million years or so, a space rock large enough to be considered a killer asteroid, comes calling.
In the book, The End of the Age, 700 Club Host and CBN founder Pat Robertson talks about the fulfillment of the biblical description of the end of the world.
“There isn’t anything that will cause the seas to roll, that will, you know, cause the skies to darken, the moon and the sun not to give their light, the nations terrified on Earth of what’s happening. There isn’t anything that’s going to do that,” Robertson said.
“We’re big enough to draw some of them in. And as somebody said, it’s ‘blind luck.’ Well, it’s the mercy of the Lord. But if that mercy ever got lifted, whew. That’s what Jesus Himself said!” he advised. “So, hey, just get ready. Get right. And stay right with the Lord.”