Photo: Kandinsky neural network
A large asteroid with a diameter of almost 500 m will fly near the Earth on February 2. Due to its size and flight path, the astronomical object is considered potentially dangerous. This is reported by TASS with reference to the Taipei Astronomical Museum.
On Friday, an asteroid called 2008 OS7 will approach Earth at 17:40 Moscow time at a distance of about 2.85 million km. Its speed is approximately 18.2 km per second. The asteroid will pass outside the earth’s atmosphere, so it does not pose a threat, the message clarified.
The astronomical object was included among the potentially dangerous because of its diameter, which exceeds 140 m, and its flight path approaches the Earth’s orbit at a distance of less than 7.5 million km. Today, 2,349 asteroids are included in the list of such potentially dangerous objects. The largest is asteroid 1999 JM8 with a diameter of about 7 km.
According to the Taipei Astronomical Museum, in 2024, 18 celestial bodies will pass by the Earth at a distance of less than 7.5 million km. And in 2029, on April 14, the potentially dangerous asteroid Apophis with a diameter of 370 m will fly near the Earth at a distance of less than 40 thousand km, which almost corresponds to the altitude of the orbit of a geostationary satellite.
As astronomers note, only 156 of more than 2 thousand potentially dangerous asteroids and comets are larger than 1 km. Their collision with the Earth can lead to serious consequences for its geology, climate and even the extinction of living beings. However, such phenomena occur on average only once every 440 thousand years, experts reassured.
