Tuesday, 28 February 2023 – 17:08 WIB
LIVE Techno – Our solar system is home to millions of rebellious space rocks. This week three very large asteroids will flash past Earth. But don’t worry, even the closest rock will still pass by our planet for 2.2 million miles (3.5 million kilometers), or about 10 times the average distance between Earth and the moon, according to NASA.
On Monday, February 27, an asteroid named 2012 DK31 sailed past our planet at a distance of about 3 million miles (4.8 million km). The asteroid is about 450 feet (137 meters) or as wide as a 40-story skyscraper and orbits around the Sun, crossing Earth’s orbit every few years.
Although the space rock poses no immediate threat to Earth, NASA classifies it as a potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA), meaning that it is large enough and orbits close enough to Earth to cause serious damage if its trajectory changes and a collision occurs.
Generally any asteroid that is more than 450 feet wide and orbits within 4.6 million miles (7.5 million km) of Earth, is considered a PHA. NASA has mapped the asteroid’s trajectory for the next 200 years, and no collision is expected.
On Tuesday, February 28, the second skyscraper-sized PHA, which measures approximately 450 feet across, will cross our planet’s orbit at a distance of approximately 2.2 million miles (3.5 million km). Known as 2006 BE55, this thick orbit of space rock crosses Earth’s orbit every four or five years.
Illustration of the DART spacecraft approaching the asteroid Dimorphos.
Finally on Friday, March 3, an asteroid measuring approximately 250 feet (76 m) will fly at a distance of 3.3 million miles (5.3 million km). The rock, which has been named 2021 QW, isn’t wide enough to qualify as a PHA, but it still makes relatively close approaches to Earth every few years.
