Asteroid the size of 54 Donald Trumps to pass Earth Friday - NASA

A large asteroid the size of 54 Donald Trumps is set to pass by the Earth on Friday, May 31, according to NASA's asteroid tracker. 

According to the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the asteroid in question was designated 2008 XH. 

The large cosmic object is one of several that will pass by the Earth in the coming days, though it is unlikely to hit us.

Make asteroids great again: How big is the Trump-sized asteroid? 

Asteroid 2008 XH is estimated by NASA JPL to be between 77 and 170 meters in diameter. To narrow it further, NASA's Eyes on Asteroids tool calculated its likely size as 102.5 meters in diameter.

To put that in a less metric-system-inclined measurement for all you American readers out there, let's compare it to the man who claimed to want to make America great again (whether he succeeded or not is a debate for you all to have in the comments and on social media): Donald Trump. 

So how tall is Donald Trump, exactly? As is the case with many men, Donald Trump's given height has been viewed with speculation. Some official records have been found in law enforcement records. According to a Newsweek article on the subject, Trump was listed at 6 feet 3 inches when arrested in New York. However, his inmate measurements in Atlanta put him at 6 feet 2 inches. Going even further, back in January 2023, journalist Jules Suzdaltsev utilized pixel measurements to narrow down Trump's height to be exactly 5 feet 11 inches, based on comparing him to his son Barron, who is 6 feet seven inches tall.

Donald Trump is *exactly* 5'11.This pic of Barron & Trump makes it trivially easy to compare their heights.Trump is 458 pixels tall, Barron is 508 pixels tall (you can check).If Trump were 6'3, Barron would be a hair short of 7ft tall. But Barron is exactly 6'7... pic.twitter.com/rT8IasOz9B

— Jules Suzdaltsev (@jules_su) January 19, 2024

Law enforcement records are likely more reliable in this case, so this article is taking a conservative estimate and going with the more recent Atlanta figure. With that in mind, asteroid 2008 XH is around the size of 54 Donald Trumps stacked foot to head on top of one another.

But what about weight?

The Manhattan arrest records cited by Newsweek place Trump at 240 pounds, while the Atlanta records place him at 215 pounds. Going with the latter, 54 Donald Trumps would weigh 11,610 pounds. It is unknown if this would match up to the asteriod, though, since weight is relative to gravity, and space tends to lack gravity compared to Earth. 

This asteroid is HUGE: How big are the other asteroids passing Earth?

The Trump asteroid's passing follows several others on May 29 and 30. Here's a look at these other asteroids, with their own US politician-based metrics.

Good asteroids on both sides: Could an asteroid hit the Earth in 2024?

Just as it was arguably inevitable for Trump to rise through the ranks of the Republican Party once again in time for the 2024 elections, so too was it inevitable for asteroids to hit the Earth. In fact, asteroids have already hit the Earth earlier this year.

But the question is, would the asteroid impact actually be bad?

Most asteroids that hit the Earth are rather small and end up burning up in the atmosphere. But one as large as 2008 XH would be big enough to do damage – whether that's as much damage as Trump will do to the United States during a potential second term is up for debate, both regarding the asteroid's damage and Trump's damage. Again, debate about it in the comments or social media. 

But regardless, it could do some serious damage. 

SAD! Can we stop an asteroid impact?

Scientists have found ways of mitigating the risk of a potentially disastrous asteroid impact. The method with the most success thus far has been kinetic deflection, as shown by NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, which altered an asteroid's orbital path. 

So if we have enough warning, we should be safe from disaster.

And with that, we finished this article without resorting to a single January 6 joke.