An asteroid will zoom previous Earth later this week. The asteroid in query is 2022 OE2 and it was only recently found by astronomers again in July. The asteroid is estimated to be round 1,200 toes throughout, which is roughly as tall because the Empire State Building. It will cross the Earth at a protected distance of round 3.2 million miles in its orbit across the Sun.
Recently found asteroid will zoom previous Earth this week
Because the asteroid is so massive, any kind of collision with Earth could be catastrophic. However, as I famous above, the asteroid is estimated to zoom previous Earth round 3.2 million miles away. NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) introduced the shut method on Wednesday. Figures from CNEOS present that it’s going to come inside its estimated distance at round 8:23 p.m. ET that day.
Of course, the scale of the asteroid is simply an estimate. That’s as a result of measuring the precise dimension is harder than you suppose. For essentially the most half, astronomers should depend on how a lot gentle the asteroid displays to find out its dimension. That’s as a result of the larger an asteroid is, the brighter it will likely be. As such, the brightness of 2022 OE2 appears to line up with different asteroids round 1,200 toes throughout.
The asteroid will journey at a staggering 72,000 miles per hour when it zooms previous Earth this week, figures say. That is roughly 40 occasions sooner than the pace of a rifle bullet. (by way of Newsweek)
Near-Earth objects, or NEOs have change into an enormous level of dialogue within the area neighborhood. That’s as a result of there at the moment are greater than 29,000 near-Earth objects that we all know of. And it’s doable that there are hundreds extra on the market. These objects are sometimes asteroids, however astronomers typically title something that passes inside 30 million miles of our planet’s orbit as an NEO.
When this new asteroid zooms previous Earth later this week, it’s going to cross over three million miles away. While that may be a protected distance away, area businesses are taking precautions ought to an asteroid of this dimension ever discover its path directed at Earth for any motive. Both NASA and the Chinese area company are engaged on asteroid redirection programs, which might change the trail of asteroids by smashing spacecraft into them.