DANGER! 100-foot Asteroid 2022 QQ4 hurtling towards Earth; NASA reveals date, time

100 foot wide Asteroid 2022 QQ4 will just miss Earth on August 27, says NASA. Here’s what we know about it.

By: SHAURYA TOMER
| Updated on: Aug 25 2022, 15:26 IST
NASA: DART Mission set to DEFLECT giant asteroid
Asteroid and Earth
1/5 Apocalyptic movies like Deep Impact, Armageddon and Don't Look Up have always explored the ‘What Ifs’ of world destruction. Now, NASA is set to defend the planet against a very similar threat that is posed by asteroids. (Pixabay)
Asteroid and Earth
2/5 The DART mission will cost a staggering $240 million. The aim of the mission is to smash a spacecraft into the Dimorphos asteroid to deflect it away from its path. While this asteroid in no way threatens Earth, the NASA asteroid mission is to carry out an experiment to gain greater knowledge as to what happens when a craft is crashed against a space rock. This knowledge will be used if an actual asteroid threatens to crash against the Earth. It will help avert an Armageddon on Earth and perhaps, even save humanity from extinction. (NASA)
Asteroid and Earth
3/5 According to Financial Times, chief scientist at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, Andy Cheng, came up with the DART concept along with a senior researcher. Dr. Cheng said, “It feels very exciting — like a dream come true — for something we’ve been thinking about for 20 years to be actually happening." (Pixabay)
Asteroid and Earth
4/5 The DART mission has already sent the main spacecraft to space in November, 2021. It includes a satellite made by the Italian Space Agency. Another spacecraft is set to launch by 2026, to measure the impact. (NASA)
Asteroid and Earth
5/5 NASA said, "DART is the first-ever mission dedicated to investigating and demonstrating one method of asteroid deflection by changing an asteroid’s motion in space through kinetic impact." (Pixabay)
Asteroid and Earth
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Asteroid 2022 QQ4, which is nearly the size of an aeroplane will just miss Earth on August 27. (Pixabay)

huge 100 foot wide asteroid is heading for Earth. NASA issued a warning that the asteroid is on its way to Earth, but will just about miss the planet on August 26. The asteroid, named Asteroid 2022 QQ4 by NASA, is nearly the size of an aeroplane and could potentially hit Earth if it deviates from its path. NASA is continuously monitoring the skies for any asteroids that may potentially come too close to Earth and it has red-flagged the Asteroid 2022 QQ4.

Will Asteroid 2022 QQ4 hit Earth?

NASA has said that Asteroid 2022 QQ4 is heading for a close approach with Earth. It is travelling at a blistering speed of nearly 26,000 kilometers per hour. The asteroid will make its closest approach to Earth on August 27 at 00:14. According to NASA JPL, the asteroid will fly past Earth at a distance of merely 5.9 million kilometers.

Though you should not be worried as this asteroid does not pose any threat to Earth. It is classed as dangerous by NASA because of its close proximity with Earth. Although dangerous, it is not always that you should be worried of a catastrophic impact with Earth. As a safety measure, NASA classifies any celestial body which comes within 8 million kilometers of Earth as a Potentially Dangerous Object.

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How is an Asteroid Orbit Calculated?

According to NASA, an asteroid's orbit is computed by finding the elliptical path about the sun that best fits the available observations of the object. That is, the object's computed path about the sun is adjusted until the predictions of where the asteroid should have appeared in the sky at several observed times match the positions where the object was actually observed to be at those same times.

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First Published Date: 25 Aug, 15:26 IST
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