A giant asteroid will pass 'close' to Earth. Another one like it is not expected for another two centuries

A giant asteroid, estimated to be one kilometer (3,451 feet) wide, or the size of "a bridge" as NASA has described it, will pass close to Earth this Tuesday, along with three smaller ones that will also cross the Earth. sky.

It is unlikely to be visible to the naked eye today: it will be about five times the distance from Earth to the Moon.

But amateur astronomers with a small telescope should be able to spot it, according to the EarthSky.com website.

The asteroid, named 7482 (1994 PC1), will pass at a distance of 1.2 million miles and at a speed of 47,344 miles per hour, according to estimates from NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, which tracks comets and asteroids. potentially dangerous that can collide with our planet. 

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First discovered in August 1994, 1994 PC1 is classified as a "potentially hazardous" asteroid because it is an Apollo asteroid, meaning that it crosses Earth's orbit, in this case, without impacting it.

There will be no other that will pass this close in the next two centuries.

At 4:51 pm on the East Coast it will be at its closest point to Earth, according to NASA.

The asteroid that will pass close to Earth on January 18, 2022.NASA

Nor is it the largest asteroid to pass through Earth's sky.

That honor belongs to asteroid 3122 Florence (1981 ET3), between 2.5 miles and 5.5 miles wide, which flew by on September 1, 2017. It's expected to fly by again on September 2, 2057.

The asteroid was discovered on August 9, 1994 by astronomer Robert McNaught at the Siding Spring Observatory.

three more asteroids

Asteroids and other near-Earth objects pass close to our planet several times a week.

Next to 7482 (1994 PC1) three other asteroids will pass this Tuesday. 

However, none of the objects, which range from the size of a bus to an airplane, are as large as 7482 (1994 PC1), nor will they pass that close.

Why is NASA planning to crash a spacecraft into an asteroid?

This is the reason

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Near-Earth objects are asteroids and comets with orbits that place them within 30 million miles (48 million kilometers) of Earth.

Detecting the threat of near-Earth objects, or NEOs, that could cause serious damage is a primary focus of NASA and other space organizations around the world.

A special mission to avoid an impact

In September of this year, a NASA spacecraft will deliberately collide with an asteroid to change its motion in space - a test technology developed to deflect a potential impact against Earth, CNN reports.

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The mission is called DART (for Double Asteroid Redirection Test) and features a spacecraft that will target Dimorphos, a small moon orbiting a near-Earth asteroid called Didymos.