Hazardous 140-foot wide asteroid is on the way to Earth; Know what NASA said

A potentially hazardous plane-sized asteroid named 2022 QF2 is making its closest approach to Earth, NASA warned.

According to NASA, the asteroid will be around 140-foot wide, which is equivalent to a plane. (Pixabay)

The terror of asteroids buzzing Earth is continuing! Today, a massive 180-foot asteroid named 2022 QB22, closely passed the Earth at a hazardously close distance of just 3.39 million miles. Now, NASA has confirmed a new “potentially hazardous” asteroid making its closest approach to Earth on September 11. According to NASA's Centre for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), the near-Earth object named Asteroid 2022 QF2 is said to be around 140-foot wide which is as big as a plane. It will fly close by Earth from a distance of about 4.54 million miles. Does this asteroid pose any threat to Earth?

To determine the potential threat from an asteroid or near-Earth objects, NASA's Centre for Near-Earth Object Studies keeps track of asteroids that have the potential to strike Earth. Whenever an asteroid with a diameter of more than 492-foot or 150 meters approaches Earth, NASA classifies it as a potentially hazardous asteroid and monitors it closely. That means, the size of the Asteroid 2022 QF2 may not pose a threat to Earth, but its close approach is what makes it a hazardous asteroid.

So, NASA says that an asteroid that approaches Earth within 4.6 million miles or 7.5 million kilometres, is termed a potentially hazardous object. Hence, Asteroid 2022 QF2 has been termed potentially hazardous.

NASA's DART mission set to crash into an asteroid

Meanwhile, NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Mission is all set to crash a spacecraft into an asteroid on September 26, 2022 to test planetary defence techniques. Recently, the spacecraft got its first look at Didymos, the double-asteroid system that includes its target. NASA confirms that "While the asteroid poses no threat to Earth, this is the world's first test of the kinetic impact technique, using a spacecraft to deflect an asteroid for planetary defense."

If successful, then the mission will provide knowledge about what to do if an asteroid is actually heading for Earth and crash into it.