Relax, the Asteroid that is Going Past our Planet isn’t Going to hit us
The NF23 2016 Asteroid is passing by our planet and media outlets started to panic. Words such as ‘dangerous’, ‘warning’ or ‘potentially hazardous’ could be seen by a lot of people who started to get scared. Rest assured, we aren’t in any danger.
The asteroid
Various news sources started speaking about an asteroid described as being larger than Egypt’s pyramids or the London Eye. It is true that this asteroid will pass by Earth on the 29th of August but it is definitely not going to plummet on our Earth with the power of a thousand apocalypses.
Asteroid 2016 NF23 impressed the scientists from NASA with its measurements, having a diameter of 230 to 524 feet. So, it could really resemble the Great Pyramid in size. However, the approach won’t be as near as you might have heard. In fact, it will pass us at 13 lunar distances, meaning that it will be at over 3 million miles away. So you can raise your head because it will not fly above you.
Other cosmic objects
The coming days will have other asteroids making their way towards Earth, but there is no reason to fear them. The 2018 PU23 which seems to be only 20 feet in diameter will pass at under 8 lunar distances from our planet.
There are numerous NEOs (near-Earth objects) which are cataloged by NASA and sometimes they do enter our atmosphere. We saw such an object burst into the spectacular fireball which happened earlier this month. However, the 2016 NF23 is definitely not going to do something similar.
Even if you don’t trust us, let’s hear what NASA has to say. The space agency told us that no currently known asteroids are predicted to hit Earth for the next 100 years.
As our second lead editor, Anna C. Mackinno provides guidance on the stories Great Lakes Ledger reporters cover. She has been instrumental in making sure the content on the site is clear and accurate for our readers. If you see a particularly clever title, you can likely thank Anna. Anna received a BA and and MA from Fordham University.
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