Asteroid 2024 CP4 set for an Earth flyby today, says NASA; Know how close it will get
An Apollo-group asteroid has been tracked in its orbit and it is expected to pass Earth by a close margin today, February 16, NASA has revealed. Know how big is the asteroid and how close it will get.
As many as 3 asteroids passed by Earth yesterday and all of them did so at breakneck speeds. Asteroids revolve around the Sun in their own orbits and are located in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. But sometimes, these space rocks interact with a large planet's gravitational field which can send them tumbling towards the planet for potential impact. Space agencies keep a check on the orbits of these space rocks to avoid a potential collision scenario. They have also developed technology to track these space rocks in their orbits, and even deflect them in case a potential impact scenario develops.
NASA, with the help of its advanced space and ground-based telescopes, has recently tracked the asteroid that is set to pass Earth today, February 16.
Asteroid 2024 CP4: Details
The asteroid has been given the designation of Asteroid 2024 CP4 by NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS). It is travelling in its orbit at a breakneck speed of around 41804 kilometers per hour, which is even faster than Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs)! As per the US Space Agency, this asteroid will come as close as 2.1 million kilometers to Earth today.
While this asteroid will pass by closely, it isn't big enough to cause panic or any potential damage. As per NASA, the asteroid is 95 feet wide, making it almost as big as an aircraft! However, if it crashes on Earth, it could still cause damage to a certain degree. In 2013, a smaller 59-foot asteroid exploded over the city of Chelyabinsk in Russia, damaging 7000 buildings and injuring over 1000 people injured. This asteroid is almost triple the size of the Chelyabinsk asteroid!
Asteroid 2024 CP4 belongs to the Apollo group of Near-Earth Asteroids, which are Earth-crossing space rocks with semi-major axes larger than Earth's. These asteroids are named after the humongous 1862 Apollo asteroid, discovered by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth in the 1930s.
NASA has also revealed that Asteroid 2024 CP4 has passed Earth before. It first flew past the planet on January 25, 1968, at a distance of almost 37 million kilometers. NASA says that after today, this asteroid will come close again on June 5, 2027, and it will pass the planet by a distance of 33 million kilometers.
Also, read other top stories today:
Make videos in minutes courtesy AI! OpenAI introduces Sora, the company's new AI model that can generate minute-long photo-realistic videos based on textual prompts. Read all about it here.
Google announces Gemini 1.5! Google is rolling out a new version of its powerful artificial intelligence model that it says can handle larger amounts of text and video than products made by competitors. Know all about it here.
Lawsuit looms over Facebook! Facebook must face a collective lawsuit valued at around 3 billion pounds over allegations the social media giant abused its dominant position to monetise users' personal data. Read more here.
One more thing! We are now on WhatsApp Channels! Follow us there so you never miss any updates from the world of technology. To follow the HT Tech channel on WhatsApp, click here to join now!
Catch all the Latest Tech News, Mobile News, Laptop News, Gaming news, Wearables News , How To News, also keep up with us on Whatsapp channel,Twitter, Facebook, Google News, and Instagram. For our latest videos, subscribe to our YouTube channel.