行星真的要撞地球啦？

A huge asteroid that’s more than twice as big as the Empire State Building is set to skim past Earth in three weeks.

一颗比帝国大厦大两倍多的巨大小行星将在三周内掠过地球。

The monster space rock is called 467317 (2000 QW7) and it will be whizzing past us at 14,361 miles per hour on Sept. 14.

这颗巨大的太空岩石名为467317 (2000 QW7)，将在9月14日以每小时14361英里的速度从我们身边呼啸而过。

There is no need to panic, though, as the asteroid should only come within 3.3 million miles of Earth.

不过，没有必要惊慌，因为小行星应该在地球330万英里的地方。

However, in the grand scheme of space, this isn’t a large distance at all, so NASA still considers it to be a “close approach.”

然而，在太空大计划中，这一点距离都不远，所以美国宇航局仍然认为这是一个“近距离的接近”。

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It has an estimated diameter of anywhere from 3,120 feet to 1.3 miles. New York City’s Empire State Building is 1,454 feet high at its tip.

它的直径估计在3120英尺到1.3英里之间。纽约帝国大厦的最高处有1454英尺。

In fact, if the space rock was a building on Earth, it would be the second-tallest on the globe.

事实上，如果太空岩石是地球上的一座建筑物，它将是全球第二高的建筑物。

Any fast-moving space object that comes within around 4.65 million miles is considered “potentially hazardous” by cautious space organizations.

谨慎的太空组织认为，任何在465万英里以内快速移动的太空物体都被认为有“潜在危险”。

Elon Musk has sparked fears that Earth would not be able to defend itself against giant asteroids with one of his recent tweets.

伊隆·马斯克(Elon Musk)最近的一条推文引发了人们的担忧，担心地球将无法在巨大的小行星面前保护自己。

The billionaire made the chilling comment in response to a story shared by his friend about NASA’s preparation for an incoming monster space rock named after the Egyptian god of chaos, Apophis.

这位亿万富翁对他的朋友分享的一个故事做出了令人毛骨悚然的评论，这个故事讲述了美国宇航局准备用埃及混乱之神阿波菲斯的名字命名一块即将到来的巨型太空岩石。

Musk’s friend Joe Rogan shared an article about this huge asteroid and Musk replied: “Great name! Wouldn’t worry about this particular one, but a big rock will hit Earth eventually & we currently have no defense.”

马斯克的朋友乔·罗根分享了一篇关于这个巨大小行星的文章，马斯克回答说：“名字真棒!我们不会担心名字的问题，因为一块大石头最终会击中地球，并且我们目前没有防御措施。”

Luckily for us, Apophis should skim past Earth within 19,000 miles of the surface.

幸运的是，阿波菲斯应该在距离地球表面19,000英里的范围内掠过地球。