Asteroid nearly 1,500 feet in size moving towards Earth at 26 times the speed of sound
Asteroid collision
An asteroid the size of a skyscraper is coming close to Earth and will zoom past us on Sep 17, NASA said. The asteroid, named 2024 ON, is between 721 and 1,575 feet (220 to 480 meters) in diameter and is travelling at a speed of 19,842 mph (31933 km/h), Live Science reported.This is around 26 times the speed of sound.
It is coming dangerously close to us and will be about 0.62 million miles (1 million kilometres) away at its closest point to Earth. This is around 2.6 times the average distance between Earth and the moon.
While it might seem like it's really far away, it really is not considering cosmic standards. However, it will not hit us and won't threaten the safety of human beings.
NASA standards for asteroid safety
NASA has a set standard for classifying near-Earth objects and those are considered "potentially hazardous". Any space object that comes within 120 million miles (193 million km) of Earth is classified as a "near-Earth object". To be considered a danger, any large object must come within 4.65 million miles (7.5 million km) of our planet.
The space agency regularly monitors asteroids and other celestial bodies to estimate whether any of them is on a collision course with Earth. At least 28,000 asteroids are on its watch, with their locations and orbits being tracked using the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), an array of four telescopes. The telescopes scan the entire night sky every 24 hours.
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Also Read:'God of chaos' asteroid can hit Earth, but only if THIS happens. 'The odds of...'
As per data, no asteroid threatens the planet for the next 100 years. However, over a period of time, as the asteroids travel through space, they absorb and emit enough momentum-carrying light which can change their orbits, albeit just slightly.
Some of them even pay a surprise visit and are detected just hours before they reach us. One such asteroid hit Earth over the Philippines a few days back. The European Space Agency (ESA) said that the asteroid was 3-foot (1-metre) long and was discovered hours before it collided. It was only the ninth to have been spotted just prior to impact.
People saw it burn into a fireball and captured it on camera. It did not cause any destruction.
"God of Chaos" asteroid Apophis
Apophis is one asteroid that has been on the radar for a few years now. It has been classified as having a high chance of hitting Earth in 2029, but astronomers say it will safely pass by.
However, doubts have once again risen after some scientists said that if it collides with another object in space, its orbit might change, putting it on a collision course with Earth. But we won't know if this has happened for another three years.
