Cosmic shock: 2-km-wide asteroid to fly past Earth on Wednesday
This is one of the reasons why tracking this asteroid during its close approach-- using telescopes and especially ground-based radar -- is important, as observations such as these will enable an even better long-term assessment of the hazard presented by this asteroid.
A two-kilometre-wide "potentially hazardous" asteroid is set to pass by Earth on Wednesday, NASA said, adding that the space rock will pose no danger to our home planet in this fly by.
The asteroid, called 1998 OR2, will make its closest approach at 5.55 a.m. EDT (3.25 p.m. India time).
It will get no closer than 6.3 million kilometres, passing more than 16 times farther away than the Moon, NASA said.
Asteroid 1998 OR2 was discovered by the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking program at NASA`s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in July 1998, and for the past two decades astronomers have tracked it.
NASA said this asteroid poses no possibility of impact for at least the next 200 years.
Its next close approach to Earth will occur in 2079, when it will pass by closer -- only about four times the lunar distance.
Despite this, 1998 OR2 is still categorised as a large "potentially hazardous asteroid" because, over the course of millennia, very slight changes in the asteroid`s orbit may cause it to present more of a hazard to Earth than it does now.
This is one of the reasons why tracking this asteroid during its close approach-- using telescopes and especially ground-based radar -- is important, as observations such as these will enable an even better long-term assessment of the hazard presented by this asteroid.
Close approaches by large asteroids like 1998 OR2 are quite rare.
The previous close approach by a large asteroid was made by asteroid Florence in September 2017.
That five-kilometre-wide object zoomed past Earth at 18 lunar distances.
On average, NASA expects asteroids of this size to fly by our planet this close roughly once every five years.
Since they are bigger, asteroids of this size reflect much more light than smaller asteroids and are therefore easier to detect with telescopes.
Watch Zee Business live TV below:
About 98 per cent all near-Earth asteroids of the size of 1998 OR2 or larger have already been discovered, tracked and cataloged, the US space agency said.
It is extremely unlikely there could be an impact over the next century by one of these large asteroids, but efforts to discover all asteroids that could pose an impact hazard to Earth continue, it added.
Get Latest Business News, Stock Market Updates and Videos; Check your tax outgo through Income Tax Calculator and save money through our Personal Finance coverage. Check Business Breaking News Live on Zee Business Twitter and Facebook. Subscribe on YouTube.
RECOMMENDED STORIES
Power of Compounding: How many years will it take to reach Rs 3 crore corpus if your monthly SIP is Rs 4,000, Rs 5,000, or Rs 6,000
Power of Compounding: Salary Rs 25,000 per month; is it possible to create over Rs 2.60 crore corpus; understand it through calculations
Reduce Home Loan EMI vs Reduce Tenure: Rs 75 lakh, 25-year loan; which option can save Rs 25 lakh and 64 months and how? Know here
Top 7 Large and Mid Cap Mutual Funds with Best SIP Returns in 5 Years: No. 1 fund has turned Rs 15,000 monthly SIP investment into Rs 20,54,384; know about others
New Year Pick by Anil Singhvi: This smallcap stock can offer up to 75% return in long term - Check targets
PSU Oil Stocks: Here's what brokerage suggests on these 2 largecap, 1 midcap scrips - Buy, Sell or Hold?
12:02 PM IST