Four Massive Asteroids Are Coming Towards Earth; How Alarming Is This?

• Alaina
• . April 5, 2023
• . Update: April 6, 2023 11:53 am
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A list of asteroids that will pass close to Earth in the future has been made public by NASA. These tiny celestial objects, which include asteroids, comets, and meteors, can astound us in a variety of ways and act as a preserved record of the early solar system.

1,278,065 known asteroids and 3,865 known comets are both products of the formation of the solar system more than 4.6 billion years ago.

On April 4, a 92-foot-long asteroid came near 1,400,000 kilometers of Earth. On April 5, a second asteroid the size of a bus will fly by Earth with a close margin of barely 5,68,000 miles.

A 65-foot-tall, house-sized asteroid will be 3,570,000 miles from Earth on April 6. Asteroid 2023 FZ3, which is 4,190,000 kilometers away from Earth and 150 feet diameter and the size of an airplane, is traveling towards it at a speed of 67656 kilometers per hour. It will pass by Earth on April 6 at this distance.

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The asteroids and comets that are quite close to Earth are tracked by NASA’s Asteroid Watch dashboard. Each encounter’s specifics are listed on the dashboard, including the time of closest approach, the estimated object diameter, relative size, and the distance from Earth.

The moon is typically 239,000 kilometers distant from Earth. On September 24, as part of the OSIRIS-REx mission, NASA will receive a sample from the rocky surface of the asteroid Bennu.

Are asteroids a concern?

Minor planets called asteroids are made up of rocky, airless leftovers from the early phases of the solar system’s development. They orbit the sun in elliptical circles and are regarded as relics from the solar system’s birth.

The term “Near Earth Objects” refers to the about 30,000 asteroids of all sizes, including over 850 that are more than one kilometer wide, that have been discovered close to Earth (NEOs). Yet, for the next century, none of them represent a hazard to Earth.