JawaPos.com – A large asteroid will reportedly fly past Earth on January 18th. The asteroid is estimated to be one kilometer (3,451 feet) wide. The size is clearly large for a space object.
The asteroid even when compared in size is said to be comparable to the size of twice the Empire State Buildings or eight times the area of the Monas monument. Given its size, is this asteroid dangerous when it comes close to Earth?
Reported via LiveScience, this space rock will glide harmlessly past Earth. The asteroid, known as (7482) 1994 PC1, will pass at its closest point on January 18.
The asteroid is traveling at 43,754 mph (70,415 km/h) and hurtling past Earth at a distance of 0.01324 astronomical units, or about 1.2 million miles (nearly 2 million kilometers), according to NASA’s JPL-Caltech Solar System Dynamics (SSD).
Such a distance can indeed be said to be safe. But by cosmic standards, that’s pretty close to an object of that size. Asteroid (7482) 1994 PC1 measures approximately 3,609 feet (1,100 meters), and although there is no danger of a collision with Earth, NASA classifies the asteroid as a potentially hazardous object.
The term describes an asteroid that measures more than 460 feet (140 m) in length and has an orbit that takes it within 4.6 million miles (7.5 million km) of Earth’s orbit around the sun, according to NASA’s Asteroid Watch. The approaching asteroid is also part of a larger category of space rock known as near-Earth objects (NEOs), which pass within about 30 million miles (50 million km) of Earth’s orbital path.
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Editor: Nurul Adriyana Salbiah
Reporter : Rian Alfianto
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