This week, three large asteroids, including two classified by NASA as “potentially hazardous,” will pass Earth or orbit the Sun. This is what it says
There are millions of rogue space rocks in our solar system. And this week, three extraordinarily large rocks will fly through the world. Don’t fret, NASA estimates that the nearest object will still be about 2.2 million miles (3.5 million kilometers) from Earth, or about 10 times the normal distance between Earth and the Moon.
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Asteroid 2012 DK31 will pass within our radius on February 27, at a distance of 3 million miles (4.8 million kilometers). and is 450 feet (137 meters) in diameter, or approximately the width of a 40-story skyscraper.
Although the space rock does not pose an immediate threat to Earth, NASA classifies it as a potentially dangerous asteroid (PHA), meaning that the rock is large enough and close enough to Earth to cause catastrophic damage if it does. Orbits change and collisions occur. In general, any asteroid The asteroid, which is more than 450 feet wide and orbits within a radius of 4.6 million miles (7.5 million km) of Earth, is considered a PHA (NASA has modeled the orbital path of this asteroid over the next 200 years and predicts that there will be no collisions. occur)
On Tuesday (FeƄ. 28), the PHA of a second skyscraper measuring about 450 feet in diameter will cross our planet at a total distance of 2.2 million miles (3.5 million kilometers). Known as 2006 BE55, this space rock crosses. the world for four years or the last year
Finally, on Friday (March 3), an asteroid about 250 feet (76 mi) in diameter will fly out at a distance of 3.3 million miles (5.3 million km). It’s a PHA, but will continue to approach relative Earth over the next few years.
Why are scientists so closely interested in space rocks that would lose millions of miles of our planet? This is due to minor changes in an asteroid’s orbit, such as by nudges by other asteroids or by the influence of the planet’s gravity. Such a close object could be sent into a direct collision course with Earth.
Fortunately, NASA calculations show that no currently known asteroid is on a path to collide with Earth for at least 100 years. Astronomers are looking for ways to thwart it. That’s the action behind NASA’s latest DouƄle Asteroid Redirect Test (DART), which deliberately bumps a rocket into an asteroid to change the asteroid’s speed. The mission doesn’t instantly destroy the target. But it has been proven that face-to-face rocket strikes have a strong effect on changing the orƄital parameters of space rocks in significant ways.
