'Potentially Hazardous' Asteroid , to Zoom Past Earth.
'Newsweek' reports that a massive "potentially
hazardous asteroid," approximately the size of
the Empire State Building, is due to pass the Earth.
According to NASA's Center for Near-Earth
Object Studies (CNEOS), the asteroid is
estimated to be between 690 and 1,570 feet across.
The large asteroid will pass the Earth at a distance of
just about 0.01908 astronomical units, equal to about
1.77 million miles, a close call in astronomical distances.
The asteroid will make its flyby
on February 2, passing the Earth at
an estimated 40,700 miles per hour.
'Newsweek' reports that asteroids are rocks left
over from the formation of our solar system, which
can range in size from fairly small to enormous. .
Ceres, the largest known asteroid,
is a staggering 600 miles across.
The asteroid on the way to pass Earth is classified as
both a "Near Earth Object" (NEO) and a "Potentially
Hazardous Asteroid" (PHA) due to its size and trajectory.
There are 31,000 known solar system
objects that are considered NEOs,
while NASA is aware of 2,350 PHAs.
A potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA)
is one that has an orbit intersecting
the Earth's orbit around the Sun by
less than 0.05 astronomical units
(1 AU is the distance to the Sun),
that's just over 4.5 million miles. , Martin Barstow, professor of astrophysics and space science
at the University of Leicester in the U.K., via 'Newsweek'.
It also has to have an absolute
brightness of 22.0 or less (lower
values of the magnitude are brighter =
larger objects), ie. an asteroid (or comet)
that would cause significant regional
damage if it hit the Earth. , Martin Barstow, professor of astrophysics and space science
at the University of Leicester in the U.K., via 'Newsweek'.
Not all NEOs are
potentially hazardous, but
all hazardous objects are NEOs, Martin Barstow, professor of astrophysics and space science
at the University of Leicester in the U.K., via 'Newsweek'