The space rock is categorized as asteroid 2021 RS2 and is between 7 and 17 feet (2.1 and 5.2 meters) in diameter, which makes it the equivalent of a small car and a larger pickup truck.
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The asteroid comes within about 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) of Earth’s surface, which is twice as close to the planes on which large satellites fly. It’s only a little closer than the small asteroid that flew in last February.
Launching from Cnet, Saturday (11/9/2021), this small cosmic arrival was traveling at a very high speed, which is more than 39,000 miles per hour (18 kilometers per second).
When surveying Mount Lemmon, Arizona, researchers initially saw it on Tuesday last week. But soon the space object continued to move through the Solar System without incident.
According to astronomers’ calculations, if it’s headed for Earth, the asteroid may not have much impact. Because with such a large size, it is likely that the asteroid will break and burn once it enters the atmosphere.
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As a comparison, asteroid which hit Russia in 2013, creating a tremendous atmospheric explosion. By the time it hit Earth’s surface, the largest piece of asteroid found was only 5 feet (1.5 meters) across.
Asteroids like 2021 RS2 pose no threat. But astronomers say the threat is not yet known so it’s a cause for concern.
The Russian meteor at that time was like a space rock that slipped toward Earth without being detected first.
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