According to NASA’s Center for the Study of Near-Earth Objects, the 1989 asteroid, JA, is estimated to be about 1.7 kilometers long. By comparison, it is about twice the size of the tallest building in the world – the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
NASA states that there are almost 29,000 near-Earth asteroids in space, but 1989 JA is one of 878 that measures at least a thousand meters.
Such a large asteroid could cause a catastrophe on Earth in the event of a collision, but there is no need to worry in this case. When the 1989 JA comes closest to Earth on Friday, it will be about four million kilometers away, which is about ten times the distance to the moon. (However, the distance of the nearest point of its trajectory from Earth varies with each flyby and this year will be the largest that the asteroid has ever had since its discovery.)
SETI Institute chief astronomer Franck Marchis told the US daily TODAY that the asteroid was moving at about 30,000 kilometers per hour. “Just to give you an idea, that’s seventeen times the speed of a bullet in the air. At this speed, the asteroid could orbit the planet Earth in just 45 minutes, “said Marchis.
This object orbits the Sun once every 861 days.
Planetary defense is not working yet
The asteroid, discovered by astronomer Eleanor Helin at the Palomar Observatory in Southern California in 1989, is described as “potentially dangerous” because it is an Apollo-type asteroid, meaning it intersects Earth’s orbit.
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Although 1989 will not hit Earth, NASA has been preparing for many years for the possibility of a catastrophic asteroid on a collision course with Earth. Last November 25, the agency launched a Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) to test whether the asteroid could be diverted from its orbit.
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Project Virtual Telescope will broadcast asteroid orbits live on Thursday and Friday in collaboration with Telescope Live.
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