NASA has revealed that an asteroid the size of an airplane could come very close to Earth today. Know about details here.
According to NASA, asteroids can often be detected in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Interacting with the gravitational field of a planet, especially one as large as Jupiter, can push an asteroid out of its orbit and send it darting in all directions. NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office constantly checks these Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) for any potential collisions with Earth and declares them Potentially Dangerous Objects if they arrive. within about 8 million km from Earth. Although the planet is safe from any asteroid approach today, NASA has warned that a giant asteroid the size of an airplane is speeding toward the planet for a close approach, This could happen tomorrow.
Key details about asteroid 2019 XQ1
NASA’s Office of Planetary Defense Coordination has red flagged an asteroid named Asteroid 2019 XQ1 due to its extremely close approach to the planet. The asteroid will make the closest approach to The earth tomorrow, December 13, at 5.5 million kilometers an hour. This 92 foot is on its way towards the planet moving at nearly 35238 kilometers per hour, surpassing the speed of a hypersonic ballistic missile!
According to the-sky.org, Asteroid 2019 XQ1 belongs to the asteroid group Aten. It was recently discovered on December 4, 2019. This asteroid takes 364 days to complete one trip around Earth. Sun of which its greatest distance from the Sun is 191 million km and the closest distance is 107 million km.
How NASA using technology to track asteroids
NASA tracks these asteroids by studying data collected by various telescopes and observatories such as Pan-STARRS, Catalina Sky Survey, and the NEOWISE telescope. NASA also has a NEO Surveyor mission scheduled to launch in 2026 to obtain even more in-depth data using a new orbiter.
NASA also has a new impact monitoring system that uses an algorithm called Sentry-II to calculate the impact risk of Near-Earth Objects. NASA can track the asteroid’s orbit using this infrared data and can even predict its orbital years in the future.
