NASA snaps 2,000-foot-wide asteroid, visible through amateur telescopes, as it zips past Earth
Image of asteroid 2013 NK4 captured by NASA astronomers.
Radar images of a 2,000-foot-wide asteroid were captured by NASA astronomers as the "potentially hazardous" asteroid safely passed by Earth on April 15.
The asteroid, which has been named 2013 NK4, was snapped by scientists using the Goldstone Radar in California on April 13.
"Radar narrow echoes probably establish that 2013 NK4 rotates very slowly, and the shape is bifurcated," said NASA.
According to the observations, asteroid 2013 NK4 is most likely a binary contact, which means the asteroid is made up of two bodies or asteroids which gravitated towards each other till they touched and hence, created the elongated shape.
Also Read:Car-sized asteroid comes eerily close to Earth, much closer than even the Moon
The closest approach to the Earth was made by the space rock at 10:50 amEDT on Monday (April 15), when the asteroid was just around 2 million miles (3.2 million kilometres) away from our planet, as per NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
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What's new about the asteroid?
This "city-killer" asteroid, which safely passed across Earth after making its closest approach, was classified as "potentially hazardous" because of its size, even though it did not pose any threat to our planet.
The asteroid, which has been named 2013 NK4, is nearly 2,000 feet (610 meters) wide which makes it twice the size of the "god of chaos" asteroid Apophis which is expected to make a super-close approach to Earth in 2029.
Watch:Gravitas | The impact of NASA asteroid deflection
The asteroid is so large that it can destroy a large city and also lead to serious environmental impacts if it hits the Earth.
However, as per NASA's calculations, this asteroid will never have an impact on the Earth. The new thing about the asteroid is that for the first time, it is visible through amateur telescopes from April 15 to April 17.
One does not need a professional astronomer to see the space rock zooming in space. Anyone, who has a decent astronomy telescope, will be able to see the asteroid till April 17.
However, because of the asteroid's orientation relative to Earth, it will be more clearly seen on April 16 and April 17, according to EarthSky.
(With inputs from agencies)