BEWARE! Gigantic asteroid heading for Earth tomorrow; NASA issues warning

NASA has issued a warning that a gigantic asteroid is on its way towards Earth. Will the asteroid hit or miss the planet? Here’s what NASA says.

By: SHAURYA TOMER
| Updated on: Sep 15 2022, 13:09 IST

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This asteroid is worth $10,000 Quadrillion

1/6 hereas other asteroids are generally made up of ice or rocks, this unique asteroid is made up of nickel, which is one of the building blocks of the solar system. One of the biggest asteroids in our Solar System, the 16 Psyche asteroid is made up of gold, nickel and iron deposits and is supposedly worth more than Earth's economy. The asteroid is worth nearly $10,000 Quadrillion. (NASA)

Asteroid and Earth — 2/6 The Psyche Mission will also help scientists to study and understand iron cores, a previously unexplored building block of planet formation. The 16 Psyche asteroid mission is a part of NASA's Discovery missions. (Pixabay)

image caption — 3/6 The findings of this mission could enable scientists to develop a way of using asteroids as resources. Asteroids could come in handy when building structures in space, such as bases on other planets or even the Moon. Due to their 85 percent metal structure, they could be an excellent source of minerals. It is even said that the raw materials extracted from asteroids could even exceed the metal reserves present on Earth. (NASA)

4/6 The mission has been in the phase known as assembly, test, and launch operations since March 2021. Since the launch window is limited, scientists and engineers have worked round the clock in order to finish the spacecraft's assembly in time. However, due to unexpected software issues, the mission has now been delayed and pushed to 2023. (NASA)

Another asteroid is coming towards us! NASA has issued yet another asteroid warning that a gigantic asteroid is heading for our planet. This asteroid, named Asteroid 2022 RQ, is huge in size. But will the asteroid impact the planet and extinguish all life on Earth? Or will it just miss the planet by enough distance to prevent any catastrophe?

Asteroid 2022 RQ heading for Earth tomorrow, September 13

Asteroid 2022 RQ is already on its way towards Earth travelling at a staggering speed of 49,536 and will just miss the planet tomorrow, September 13. It will make its closest approach to Earth at a distance of 3.7 million kilometers, according to NASA. NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office has warned that Asteroid 2022 RQ is 84 feet wide, nearly the size of an aircraft.

According to the-sky.org, the Asteroid 2022 RQ was discovered on September 1, 2022 and belongs to the main Apollo group of asteroids. The asteroid 's farthest point from the Sun is 328 million kilometers, and the nearest point to the Sun is 110 million kilometers. Asteroid 2022 RQ takes 648 days to complete one orbit around the Sun.

How are Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) like asteroids studied?

NASA currently has a NEO Observations Program in place to track, and characterize at least 90 percent of the NEOs that are 140 meters or larger in size. Most of the asteroids are observed with the help of the NEOWISE Project which repurposed NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer to work as a survey telescope and scan the sky for Near-Earth Objects. NASA JPL also uses a variety of ground-based telescopes in the hunt for these asteroids.

NASA JPL's Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) has also recently developed a next-generation asteroid impact monitoring system which has gone online.

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First Published Date: 12 Sep, 10:13 IST