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A 1 kilometer asteroid will greet Earth on January 18

2022-01-06T16:50:40.423Z


An asteroid two and a half times larger than the Empire State Building will 'greet' the Earth on January 18th (ANSA)


An asteroid two and a half times larger than the Empire State Building will 'greet' the Earth next January 18: with a diameter of about one kilometer, the cosmic stone called (7482) 1994 PC1 will make its close pass when in Italy it will be the 22:51, whizzing at a speed relative to the Earth of nearly 20 kilometers per second.

There will be no danger, however: the script will be very different from that of the film 'Don't look up', because the asteroid will pass at a safe distance of 1.93 million kilometers, more than five times the distance that separates the Earth from the Moon.

The forecasts of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Jpl) indicate this.


The orbit of asteroid 7482) 1994 PC1 as of January 1, 2022 (source: Tomruen from Wikipedia)

The asteroid is an old acquaintance of astronomers and for this reason its trajectory was calculated with a minimum margin of error, equal to only 133 kilometers. As can be seen from the acronym that identifies it, the asteroid was discovered in 1994 by the astronomer Robert McNaught of the Siding Spring Observatory, in Australia. By reconstructing its path backwards, it was possible to find images of the space stone up to 1974 and it is precisely this enormous amount of data that today allows us to define its orbit with a good margin of certainty.

The last close passage took place 89 years ago, on January 17, 1933, at a distance of 1.1 million kilometers, similar to that foreseen for the next passage on January 18, 2105. All precious opportunities to study this body more closely. celestial belonging to the category of type S asteroids, characterized by a stony composition consisting mainly of silicates.

To observe (7482) 1994 PC1 next January 18, a small amateur telescope should suffice.

Source: ansa

All tech articles on 2022-01-06

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