Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – A giant asteroid is rumored to be approaching Earth this weekend. Named 4660 Nereus, the asteroid measures 330 meters and is rumored to be larger than the Eiffel Tower in France.
The asteroid will accelerate at a speed of 23,700 km / h on Saturday (11/12/2021). Live Science reports that this object will not have an impact on Earth, quoted Thursday (9/12/2021).
On Saturday, Nereus’ distance from Earth will be 3.86 million km to Earth, which is said to be closer than recorded in 20 years. However, it is still further than the distance between the Earth and the Moon or 10 times wider than the two.
The asteroid was first discovered in 1982. Nereus is said to be interesting for mining because it contains nickel, iron, and cobalt worth US$4.71 billion, or around Rp. 68 trillion.
Nereus does often come close to Earth every 10 years. Even too often, NASA and the Japanese space agency Jaxa had planned to collect samples from the asteroid.
The two agencies plan to retrieve the asteroid using Jaxa’s Hayabusa spacecraft. But ultimately canceled, Jaxa and NASA chose to research a different asteroid.
After Saturday, NASA estimates that Nereus will approach Earth on March 2, 2031 and November 2050. The asteroid’s closest distance to Earth will occur on February 14, 2060, which is 1.2 million km Earth.
NASA calls any space object within 120 million miles or 193 million km of Earth, a “near-Earth object.” If it travels at 4.65 million miles or 7.5 million km it is “potentially hazardous.”
After marking the celestial bodies, astronomers will conduct monitoring. This includes finding the trajectory of objects that are thought to be on collision course with Earth.
(npb)
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