An asteroid with a diameter of 1.5 km flew past Earth. It looks like he’s in a mask

Near the Earth, an asteroid 1998 OR2 flew about one and a half kilometers in diameter, which, as scientists joke, decided to acquire a protective mask in connection with the situation on the planet with the coronavirus.

The asteroid, discovered in 1998, is considered potentially dangerous as it periodically approaches Earth’s orbit, NASA said. He approached the Earth on April 29, but flew at a safe distance from it – about 6.2 million km.

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Astronomers at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico managed to capture a celestial body flying in space. They jokingly suggested that the asteroid, knowing about the pandemic, put on a protective mask.

“Small topographic features, such as hills and ridges at one end of the 1998 OR2 asteroid, intersns for science, – reported in a press release “Annie Wirkki, an observatory specialist. But since now all our thoughts are about Covid-19, it seems that 1998 OR2 also took care of the mask.”

Observatory experts track asteroids that are approaching Earth and use their data to simulate the trajectories of potentially dangerous celestial objects on the planet.

Now the asteroid has flown a safe distance from Earth, but, according to scientists, the next time the rendezvous will be closer. Therefore, it is important to study such objects in order to develop and improve technologies to eliminate such threats.

“In 2079, the asteroid 1998 OR2 will be 3.5 times closer to Earth than this year, so it is important to know its exact orbit,” the Huffington Post quoted the specialist at the observatory Flavian Vendetti.

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