NASA has warned that a dangerous asteroid is speeding toward the planet today.
There’s reason to worry because NASA has detected an asteroid that is speeding toward Earth and will be dangerously close to the planet. This space rock is rushing towards the planet and could come close to Earth today. It has been classified by NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office as a potentially hazardous asteroid due to its proximity to Earth.
So are we safe from this asteroid? What are these NASA speak.
Key details on asteroid 2022 WO10
NASA’s Office of Planetary Defense Coordination has red flagged an asteroid named Asteroid 2022 WO10 due to its close approach to the planet. The 29-foot asteroid will make its closest approach to The earth today, December 8 at a distance of 1.9 million kilometers per hour. It is on its way towards the planet moving at nearly 17108 km/h, more than the speed of a supersonic ballistic missile!
According to NASA, the asteroid 2022 WO10 belongs to the Apollo group of small planetis a group of near-Earth asteroids named after the giant asteroid 1862 Apollo, discovered in the 1930s by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth.
How are asteroid orbits calculated?
The orbit of an asteroid is calculated by finding an elliptical orbit around the sun that best matches the available observations of the object using various space and ground-based telescopes such as the NEOWISE telescope. by NASA and its brand new Sentry II algorithm. That is, the object’s calculated path around the sun is adjusted until predictions of where the asteroid should be in the sky at some point in time are observed to match the positions of the asteroid. position in which the object is actually observed at the same time.
