140-foot asteroid rushing towards close approach to Earth at blazing speed of 51875 kmph

Earth may face a bit of danger from this upcoming asteroid hurtling towards Earth at terrifying speed! A huge "potentially hazardous" asteroid zoomed by yesterday after it made its closest approach towards Earth. This was a 62-foot-sized Asteroid 2022 UD71. But the fear of these horrific space rocks is not over! The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has issued a warning that another massive airplane-sized space rock, asteroid 2022 WP5, will make its closest approach to Earth today. NASA has flagged it as a "potentially hazardous object".

The reason is its close proximity! According to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the upcoming asteroid is 140-foot in size and is expected to come as close as 3.79 million miles toward the Earth. NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) confirmed that the asteroid will come with a blazing speed of 51875 km per hour. NASA keeps constant track of these monstrous space rocks which pose any danger to the Earth.

NASA says any asteroid that approaches to within 4.6 million miles of the Earth and having a size larger than about 150 meters is termed a potentially hazardous object. This is the reason that Asteroid 2022 WP5 is flagged as a potentially hazardous object. NASA will keep an eye on this upcoming asteroid, in case it poses any threat to Earth.

Do you know?

You will usually find asteroids with a nomenclature such as 2022 WP5. However, this is a provisional designated name for an asteroid which mentions the year of its discovery followed by two letters which denote the order of its discovery during that year. For example, if an asteroid is discovered between 1 and 15 January, then it will be designated as AA, AB, AC, and so on. While, final discoveries of the year between 16 and 31 December will get YA, YB, YC, and so on. However, for some reason, it doesn't include the letter J.

NASA takes the help of some of the best technologies to know about these asteroids such as, with the use of optical and radio telescopes, NASA determines the size, shape, rotation, and physical composition of asteroids. For detailed characterization data of the asteroids, NASA uses radio telescopes at Deep Space Network and the National Science Foundation’s Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.