2 potentially dangerous asteroids with a diameter of 400-800 meters will pass by the Earth

On June 12 and 15, two potentially dangerous asteroids the size of skyscrapers will approach the Earth, сspecialists of the Russian Keldish Institute of Applied Mathematics said.

"In mid-June, two large potentially dangerous asteroids, (488453) 1993 XD and 2020 DB5, will pass by Earth at once, their brightness will slightly exceed 14 stellar magnitude. Their absolute luminosity is almost the same (H=19.2...19.3), which means that the asteroids can have similar sizes (about 400-800 meters)," the institute said in a statement.

As for asteroid 2020 DB5, it will make its closest approach to Earth on June 15, at a distance that is "11 times farther than the Moon."

"As the name suggests, only three years have passed since the discovery of this "pebble". And this once again reminds us that a significant part of equally large near-Earth objects remains unknown. One of them may suddenly fall on us (although the probability is small)," the scientists said in a statement.

Both asteroids are being monitored by scientists at the ISON-Kitab observatory. The Goldstone radar in California plans to determine the size and shape of these objects.

All large asteroids are considered potentially dangerous, even if their flight trajectory is such that they are unlikely to collide with our planet.

Scientists believe that the largest asteroids with a diameter of more than 1 km, if they collide with the Earth, could cause catastrophic consequences and even destroy human civilization and lead to the complete extinction of the species. Objects as small as 140 m to 1 km in diameter can cause regional disasters, up to the destruction of entire continents. They can also kill hundreds of millions, if not billions, of people.