NASA says asteroid 2023 AH, measuring just 20 feet, is a potential threat to Earth. Know why.
NASA detected a small but potentially dangerous asteroid on January 11, 2023, named Asteroid 2023 AH, and it is set to make a very close approach to Earth today. According to NASA’s asteroid data tracker, Asteroid 2023 AH is about 20 feet in diameter and will pass by Earth today January 15 at 15:05. This near-Earth asteroid belongs to the Apollo group and orbits the Sun in 528 days.
NASA’s CNEOS has discovered that the asteroid is making its way at a dizzying speed of 17221 km/h. “At this point, the asteroid moves away from Sun at a maximum distance of 23 million km and approach it at a minimum distance of 144 million km,” the-sky.org said. The most worrisome part, however, is that this small asteroid will uncomfortably approach Earth at a distance of just 440,000 miles. While the average distance between the Earth and the moon is 239,000 miles or 385,000 km.
Why this 20-foot small planet is a potential threat to the Earth
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s NEO Research Center maintains a list of impact risk assessments of all near-Earth objects that will approach Earth relatively close. NASA’s JPL has tagged potentially hazardous objects to all space rocks approaching within 4.6 million miles from The earth and is about 150 meters larger in size. Its close proximity to Earth is what makes this 20-foot asteroid a potential threat to Earth. A slight deviation from its orbit can lead to catastrophic consequences on Earth.
With NASA-supported ground-based telescopes such as the Pans-STARRS1 in Maui, Hawaii, the Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson, Arizona, and the space-based telescope called NEOWISE, astronomers can keep a close eye on the moons. this near-Earth object. Furthermore, NASA also has an impact monitoring system that uses an algorithm called Sentry-II to calculate the impact risk of these asteroids.
