NASA Sounds Alarm! Earth's Close Encounter with Massive 99-foot asteroid soon | Tech News

NASA Sounds Alarm! Earth's Close Encounter with Massive 99-foot asteroid soon

A 99 feet wide asteroid could make its close approach towards Earth soon! NASA has revealed the asteroid’s key details such as its speed, distance, trajectory and more.

By: HT TECH
| Updated on: Feb 24 2023, 11:18 IST
Are near-Earth objects DANGEROUS? Know what NASA says about scary comets, asteroids
Asteroids
1/5 Earth has objects near it, which sometimes get attracted towards the planet because of its gravitational pull. Of course, not every near-Earth object manages to reach the surface of the planet. The object needs to be large enough to survive its fiery journey through the atmosphere of the Earth. (Pixabay)
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2/5 What is a near-Earth object? Asteroids or comets that can pass within 30 million miles or 50 million kilometers of Earth's orbit are known as near-Earth objects or NEO. According to NASA, "A near-Earth object (NEO) is an asteroid or comet whose orbit brings it within a zone approximately 121 million miles (195 million kilometers) from the Sun, meaning that it can pass within about 30 million miles (50 million kilometers) of Earth’s orbit." (Pixabay)
Asteroids
3/5 NASA further informed that the vast majority of NEOs that enter Earth’s atmosphere disintegrate before reaching the surface (and more than 100 tons of dust particles disintegrate in Earth’s atmosphere daily). Those NEOs that are larger than around 98 to 164 feet (30 to 50 meters) in size could cause widespread damage in and around their impact sites. Apart from NEOs, there is another category that NASA uses. These are the potentially hazardous objects (PHO). These are near-Earth objects whose orbit brings them within 4.7 million miles (7.5 million km) of Earth’s orbit, or is greater than 500 feet (140 meters) in size. (Pixabay)
Asteroids
4/5 The highest risk of impact for a known asteroid is a 1 in 714 chance of impact by an asteroid designated 2009 FD in 2185. This means that the possibility that it could impact then is less than 0.2 percent. NASA said, "One asteroid that NASA is studying up close, called Bennu, has a 1/2700 chance of impacting Earth between 2175 and 2195. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will complete a 2-year investigation of Bennu before plucking a sample of asteroid material off its surface and delivering it back to Earth." (Pixabay)
Asteroids
5/5 How can we prevent an asteroid from hitting Earth? Currently, an asteroid impact is the only natural disaster that NASA might be able to prevent. There are a few methods that NASA is studying to deflect an asteroid on a course to impact Earth. One of these techniques is called a gravity tractor—it involves a spacecraft that would rendezvous with an asteroid (but not land on its surface) and maintain its relative, optimal position to use the mutual gravity attraction between the satellite and the asteroid to slowly alter the course of the asteroid. (Pixabay)
Asteroids
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Asteroid 2023 CG1 belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids. (Pixabay)

Asteroids are regarded as some of the most substantial hazards to humanity throughout the universe. These celestial bodies are distributed throughout our solar system and range in size from minuscule to enormous. Even though the largest asteroid in the solar system, called Ceres, is almost 939 kilometers (about twice the length of New York State) wide, a much smaller asteroid could cause significant destruction and potentially lead to human extinction. The asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs was only 10 kilometers in size.

Recently, NASA has reported that another asteroid is rapidly approaching Earth, and while it is not expected to cause global destruction, it will come very close to our planet.

Asteroid 2023 CG1 details

According to the warning issued by NASA, an asteroid called Asteroid 2023 CG1 is currently heading towards Earth and is anticipated to pass closely by the planet tomorrow, February 25th. NASA has approximated the asteroid to be 99 feet wide, similar in size to an airplane. The asteroid is already en route, hurtling towards Earth at a rapid speed of 23331 kilometers per hour. The asteroid's closest approach to Earth will occur at a distance of 5.8 million kilometers.

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According to NASA, Asteroid 2023 CG1 belongs to the 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.

NASA technology to study asteroids

NASA not only uses its space telescopes and observatories like the NEOWISE to observe and study distant asteroids, but also a variety of ground-based telescopes such as the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) located in the Antofagasta Region of the Atacama Desert in Chile.

NASA also has a new impact monitoring system in place which uses an algorithm called Sentry-II to calculate the impact risk of Near-Earth Objects. NASA can track the orbital path of the asteroid using this infrared data and can even predict its orbit years into the future.

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First Published Date: 24 Feb, 11:17 IST
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