An asteroid roughly as long as Chicago ’s Willis Tower is tall is fructify to pass by Earth tomorrow . It poses no threat to our mankind , like it or not .
“ Potentially wild ” asteroidsare routine trespasser in Earth ’s neck opening of the solar system . Despite their alarming name , they typically personate no terror to Earth . They are asteroid consider orotund enough to survive passing through our satellite ’s atmosphere and cause regional ( or larger ) damage on the ground , grant to NASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory .
Potentially risky asteroid make near approaches with some regularity and compass in size fromtruck - sizeto house - sizing to skyscraper - sizing ( and so on — headlines will ballpark the number in a variety of wacky ways ) .
The near-Earth asteroid 2016 AJ193, the 1,001st observed by planetary radar.Image:NASA/JPL-Caltech
That ’s also why when Gizmodo is covering near - Earth asteroid , we typicallyput the “ we ’ll be hunky-dory ” bit in the headline . Near - Earth asteroids are a normal part of our local solar system of rules , but also fodder for anxious readers . Or eager lector — when the asteroid 2021 KT1 passed within 4.6 million miles of Earth , a fate of you seemed signally foiled .
The incoming ( and evanesce ) asteroid is name 2020 DB5 , and it was first keep an eye on back in 1905 . It ’s expect to swing back our world on May 2 , 2048 , after passing Jupiter on November 10 , 2024,according to NASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory .
NASA tracks near - Earth objects ( or NEOs ) , include potentially wild asteroids . ItsCenter for Near - Earth Object Studies ( CNEOS)tracks the orbital way of ten of thousands of asteroids , comets , and other interplanetary rejectamenta . harmonise to CNEOS , no asteroid heavy than 460 feet across ( 140 metre ) has a significant prospect of hitting Earth in the next 100 year .
The successfulDouble Asteroid Redirection Test ( DART ) missionin September was lead to try humankind ’s ability to convert an asteroid ’s flight . The deputation was conducted with the terrible scenario in mind : a gravid asteroid barrelling towards Earth , which would cause ruinous wrong if it collided with our world .
Dimorphos , the moonlet thatthe DART spacecraft impacted(and successfully diverted from its compass ) was not on a hit course with Earth , but the mission show that if require , humankind could protect itself from at least similarly sized asteroids .
Other mission , like the HAARP experiment , use wireless undulation to probe asteroidsmaking close passing game of Earth , to prepare for confining clash with larger distance rock .
2020 DB5 is not the only asteroid passing by this workweek . The house - size ( 57 - foot , or 17.4 - metre ) 2023 LZ will happen within 200,000 miles of Earth today , and the plane - size ( 99 - foot , or 30 - meter ) 2023 LW will fade within 1.44 million air mile of our satellite on June 18,according to NASA ’s asteroid ascertain . In May alone , seven near - Earth asteroids go nearer to Earth than the Moon , according to NASA .
Near - Earth object — including potentially wild asteroids — are a normal part of Earth living , whether you find out about the objective or not . And when an asteroid actually look like it might cut toward our satellite … well , that ’s exactly why NASA tracks tens of M of them .
More : Who protect Earth From Asteroids ?
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