The POT performs monitoring of a large asteroid approaching Earth on Monday, January 20, at a speed of 99,000 kilometers per hour (61,500 miles). The distance from the celestial body and the planet will be at least 10 times the space between the moon and our world.
The speed and size of the asteroid, in the case of colliding with the Earth (which is ruled out), would suffice to destroy an entire city. It is estimated that the diameter of the asteroid 2020 AQ1 It measures between 100 and 230 meters. That is, the rock is larger than the Golden Gate Bridge tower and would double the height of London’s Big Ben.
Astronomers have described the trajectory of 2020 AQ1 as a ‘close approach’. NASA noted that the passage of this object will be harmless to Earth and will continue its journey around the Sun.
The asteroid will make its approach closer to Earth on January 20 around 19:54. The rock was discovered about two weeks ago and since then they have been kept under observation.
The European Space Agency (ESA) has identified 21,655 NEO asteroids and 109 NEO comets.
Last step of an asteroid near Earth
On Friday, January 17, Italian astronomer Gianluca Masi detected a potentially dangerous asteroid, the 2020 AN3, which happened near Earth. The telescope ‘Elena’ caught the passage of the celestial object.
This star passed 3.1 million kilometers from our planet, belongs to the asteroid family that could one day hit our world. It is estimated that this object is between 230 and 510 meters wide.
Last year a total of 2,436 objects were detected next to Earth, 30% more than in 2018, which is a record number.
It may interest you
– .
:quality(80)/cdn-kiosk-api.telegraaf.nl/d1b89538-3bd5-11ea-bc89-0255c322e81b.jpg "BBC: “Meghan and Harry lose 5 percent of their income” | Entertainment")