Asteroid danger! 59-foot space rock hurtling towards Earth, NASA reveals speed, distance

Countless asteroids keep zooming past the Earth at blistering speeds and close distances, posing a potential risk towards the planet. Though none of these asteroids actually hit Earth, they are still classified as Potentially Hazardous Objects due to the close proximity by which they pass the planet. Now, NASA has warned that another asteroid is approaching the Earth today, November 11. Although at the moment scientists believe that the asteroid will make a safe passage across our planet, things can change due to even a slight deflection in the asteroid’s trajectory as a result of interaction with Earth’s gravitational field.

Asteroid 2022 VP key details

NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office has warned that the asteroid, named Asteroid 2022 VP, will make its closest approach to Earth today, November 11, at a distance of 3 million kilometers. Now, although the distance might seem a lot, it is relatively a small number in astronomical distances. In fact, the asteroid is already travelling towards Earth, at a blistering speed of 18181 kilometers per hour!

According to the-sky.org, the Asteroid 2022 VP was discovered very recently, on November 1. It belongs to the main Apollo group of asteroids, which are a group of Near-Earth asteroids named after the humongous 1862 Apollo asteroid, discovered by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth in the 1930s. The Asteroid 2022 VP takes just 458 days to orbit the Sun during which its maximum distance from the Sun is 210 million kilometers and minimum distance is 138 million kilometers.

NASA mission to study trojan asteroids

To study asteroids that are not in the asteroid belt, NASA has the Lucy Space Mission. NASA launched its Lucy spacecraft on Oct. 16, 2021 from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. This is NASA’s first space mission to study the Trojans, a group of asteroids which orbit the Sun in two groups, according to NASA. It is built to seek out trojan asteroids millions of miles from Earth.