An enormous asteroid is expected to make its closest approach to Earth soon, but don't worry, it's still going to be more than a million miles away from us.
According to Space.com, the colossal space rock is estimated to measure around 3,400 feet, which is almost three times the height of the 102-story Empire State Building, and it will make its closest pass to our planet on January 18, per NASA's Near-Earth Object Studies. Nevertheless, Earth is in the clear as it's expected to be travelling at a distance of 1.2 million miles.
What makes this coming event significant is that the flight path of the asteriod, formally known as 7482 (1994 PC1), marks the closest approach the space rock will make to Earth within the next 200 years, says EarthSky, though it'll be gone almost as quickly as it arrives as it's anticipated to be flying past at a top speed of almost 12 miles per second (20 km/s).
Despite its far-off trajectory, the asteroid would qualify as a "Near-Earth object" (NEO) according to NASA, given that any asteroid or comet that comes closer than 1.3 astronomical units (120.9 million miles) is classified as such — and this is something that the agency continues to monitor, having used survey telescopes to find nearly 28,000 NEOs to date.
Scientists have even calculated the probability of the potentially hazardous Bennu asteroid hitting Earth between 2021 and 2300. Fortunately, Bennu's chances of hitting Earth are still very low, yet those living on Earth may consider getting closer to asteroids than ever before as an astrophysicist has explained how humans could inhabit a floating asteroid belt in space.
Before you consider relocating, you might want to take a closer look at an asteroid sample from space and find out more about an asteroid's interior to discover whether they contain water. It's worth noting these rocky objects don't come cheap either; one metallic asteroid between Mars and Jupiter was found to have an estimated value of $10,000 quadrillion.
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.
Thumbnail image credit: NASA.
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According to Space.com, the colossal space rock is estimated to measure around 3,400 feet, which is almost three times the height of the 102-story Empire State Building, and it will make its closest pass to our planet on January 18, per NASA's Near-Earth Object Studies. Nevertheless, Earth is in the clear as it's expected to be travelling at a distance of 1.2 million miles.
What makes this coming event significant is that the flight path of the asteriod, formally known as 7482 (1994 PC1), marks the closest approach the space rock will make to Earth within the next 200 years, says EarthSky, though it'll be gone almost as quickly as it arrives as it's anticipated to be flying past at a top speed of almost 12 miles per second (20 km/s).
Despite its far-off trajectory, the asteroid would qualify as a "Near-Earth object" (NEO) according to NASA, given that any asteroid or comet that comes closer than 1.3 astronomical units (120.9 million miles) is classified as such — and this is something that the agency continues to monitor, having used survey telescopes to find nearly 28,000 NEOs to date.
Scientists have even calculated the probability of the potentially hazardous Bennu asteroid hitting Earth between 2021 and 2300. Fortunately, Bennu's chances of hitting Earth are still very low, yet those living on Earth may consider getting closer to asteroids than ever before as an astrophysicist has explained how humans could inhabit a floating asteroid belt in space.
Before you consider relocating, you might want to take a closer look at an asteroid sample from space and find out more about an asteroid's interior to discover whether they contain water. It's worth noting these rocky objects don't come cheap either; one metallic asteroid between Mars and Jupiter was found to have an estimated value of $10,000 quadrillion.
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.
Thumbnail image credit: NASA.
Continue reading...