JAKARTA – Asteroid is one of the extraterrestrial bodies that are smaller than planets but larger than meteoroids. Asteroids differ from comets from their visual appearance even though they are both celestial bodies, asteroids do not have tails like comets.
The majority of known asteroids orbit in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter or share an orbit with Jupiter (Jupiter’s Trojan asteroid). However, there are other orbital families with significant populations, including near-Earth asteroids.
Astronomers continue to monitor the movement of this celestial body, which is currently known to be thousands of asteroids passing close to Earth. However, there are 5 asteroids whose trajectories are so close to the earth that astronomers are so wary of them.
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Here are five asteroids that have passed so close that made Earthlings alert:
1. Asteroid 163373 (2002 PZ39)
Coinciding with Valentine’s Day 2020, a 990 -meter -wide Asteroid is moving closer to Earth. According to NASA’s CNEOS, the celestial body will be close to Earth’s orbit on February 15, 2020 around 06.00 Jakarta time.
The asteroid is approaching Earth at a speed of 55,000 kph or km / hour. NASA’s CNEOS categorizes the asteroid as a “potentially dangerous” celestial body.
Asteroid will pass Earth from a distance of 0.03860 astronomical units, or about 3.6 million miles (5,793,638.4km). The asteroid is so massive that in the event of a collision it will kill millions of humans and cause mass extinctions of animals, and the global winter could last for years.
However, the United States (US) Aeronautics and Space Administration (US) said the celestial body that is bigger than the Burj Khalifa skyscraper tower will not hit the planet, but only cut its path.
2. Asteroid 52768 (1998 OR2)
The 1998 OR2 asteroid is an Amor-class asteroid. The diameter of the space rock is estimated at 1.8-4.1 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 15.8. Asteroids are known to have crossed Earth on April 29, 2020.
NASA classifies 1998 OR2 as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA). Potentially dangerous because its orbit once intersected Earth’s orbit at a distance of less than 4.6 million miles (7.5 million km), or 0.05 astronomical units, the average distance between Earth and the sun.
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