An asteroid the size of a skyscraper will pass Earth on January 11 at a distance of 3,480,000 miles. The asteroid, dubbed Asteroid 2013 YD48 by NASA, is bigger than Big Ben. NASA classifies the asteroid as a “potentially hazardous object” because of its size and relative distance from Earth when it was photographed.
Although it will be very far from Earth, if any asteroid or comet is less than 1.3 AU from Earth and the sun, it classifies it as a near-Earth object (NEO). One au is equivalent to 93 million miles. An asteroid of this size could be devastating if it hit Earth, but 2013 YD48 isn’t too close to cause any concern.
The last time an asteroid hit Earth was in Russia eight years ago, when it exploded in the atmosphere.
NASA launches first mission to kick asteroid out of orbit
NASA recently launched a mission to deliberately crash a spacecraft into an asteroid as a test run to stop a massive space rock from wiping out life on Earth. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) was launched on a SpaceX rocket on November 24, 2021, at 10:21 p.m. PT from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The mission’s goal is to eject “asteroid” Dimorphos feet wide around point 525, orbiting a larger asteroid, called Didymos, that has deviated from its orbit. The spacecraft is expected to hit the asteroid in the fall of 2022, when the binary asteroid system is 11 million kilometers from Earth, almost the closest point the pair has reached.
“What we’re trying to learn is how to deflect the threat,” NASA’s top scientist Thomas Zuberchen said before the launch.
Complete News Source : Hindustan Times
