A giant object will approach Earth on January 18, just days after three asteroids passed by Earth. Asteroid 7482 (1994 PC1) will pass Earth in the coming weeks as it moves in the solar system’s elliptical orbit.
At its closest point, the asteroid was 1.93 million kilometers from Earth, 5.15 times the distance between the moon and Earth. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which tracks the movement of the asteroids, said the object would travel at 70,416 kilometers per hour.
The asteroid, which is about 1 kilometer in diameter and 2.5 times the height of the Empire State Building, has been dubbed a potentially dangerous asteroid because of its size. While astronomers haven’t seen an asteroid hit Earth, experts say it’s possible that an asteroid of this size hits Earth every 600,000 years.
According to JPL, near-Earth objects are asteroids and comets whose orbits bring them within 195 million kilometers of the sun, meaning they can cycle around Earth’s orbit. While most asteroids are classified as near-Earth objects, only a few are designated as potentially hazardous. These objects are defined as asteroids over 460 feet (140 meters) in size and whose orbits bring them close to Earth’s 7.5 million kilometers around the sun.
Complete News Source : India Today
