Thursday, 16 February 2023 – 05:06 WIB
LIVE Techno – A massive space rock will make its closest approach to Earth for the first time in four centuries, on Wednesday night, February 15, 2023.
Asteroid 2005 YY128 will make its approach at a distance of 2.8 million miles (4.5 million km) from our planet at 19:46 EST or on Thursday morning today, February 16, at 07:46 WIB.
According to EarthSky.org the year has become closer for more than 400 years. But don’t worry because it’s about 12 times the distance from Earth to the Moon, so there’s no chance the asteroid will hit Earth, citing the site SpaceThursday, 16 February 2023.
As its name suggests, Asteroid 2005 YY128 was discovered in 2005 by astronomers at the Kitt Peak Observatory in southern Arizona. For the last 17 years, researchers have mapped its orbit with a high degree of precision.
Even so their observations have not determined the size of this space rock. But the diameter ranges from 1,903 feet (580 meters) to 4,265 feet (1.3 km).
Therefore, 2005 YY128 qualifies as a potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA), a designation given to a space rock at least 460 feet (140 m) wide whose orbit brings it within 0.05 astronomical units (AU) of Earth.
