ILLUSTRATION. In early February, a giant asteroid with a diameter of 42 meters will pass near the earth.
Source: Kompas.com | Editor: Barratut Taqiyyah Rafie
KONTAN.CO.ID – JAKARTA. In early February, a giant asteroid with a diameter of 42 meters will pass near the earth. The asteroid that will pass near Earth is the large asteroid 2022 AA.
Amateur astronomer Marufin Sudibyo said the asteroid was discovered on January 1, 2022 through the Purple Mountain Observatory facility, Xu Yi station in China.
“(Asteroids) have been confirmed by sky surveying systems in various parts of the world, from Europe to Latin America,” said Marufin when contacted by Kompas.com, Wednesday (19/1/2022).
He added that this asteroid is classified as an Apollo class near-Earth asteroid that orbits the sun once every 1.46 years.
“As an Apollo class, then (asteroids) have orbits that can intersect with Earth’s orbit,” he said.
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When will this asteroid cross Earth?
Separately, researcher from Pusainassa National Aeronautics and Space Institute (LAPAN) Andi Pangerang explained, this asteroid has an average distance to the sun of about 192.6 million km, greater than the average distance of the Earth-sun as far as 149.6 million km. .
However, the perihelion of the large asteroid 2022 AA is about 143.8 million km, smaller than Earth’s aphelion which reaches 152.1 million km. The asteroid passed near Earth on February 4, 2022 at 21:16 UT or February 5, 2022 at 04:16 WIB with a distance of 2,542,000 km from Earth.
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“This asteroid is traveling at a speed of 13,200 km per hour as it passes near Earth,” Andi explained.
Andi added that the distance when the asteroid passed near the Earth was still greater than the roche limit or the minimum distance the object could keep from breaking into pieces. This is because the tidal or locking force experienced by the object, in this case the asteroid 2022 AA, is the same as the Earth’s gravitational force.
