Three Asteroids Passed Within The Earth’s Vicinity
Although they haven’t attracted much attention, NASA recently warned that three asteroids would pass within a few kilometers away from Earth. However, the news did not get any bigger, as these space rocks were not dangerous. Each of these three asteroids, dubbed 2018 VS1, 2018 VR1, and 2018 VX1, is between 10 and 30 meters long, approximately.
Three asteroids flew by Earth, according to NASA
But even if we talk about three asteroids and you might think of them as a relatively unified group, the reality is that they are not so at all, as each was having its own trajectory in our solar system. The uniqueness of this event is that these three space rocks whizzed by Earth relatively one after the other.
First, we had 2018 VX1, which passed the closest our world. The exact size of this space rock is not known, but it is around the before-mentioned figures. It approached about 400,000 kilometers from Earth, without any danger, however. On the other hand, 2018 VS1, which is between 12 and 25 meters in size, was the second-closest, and it passed not less than a million kilometers away from our world.
Finally, the largest of the three asteroids that passed next to our planet was 2018 VR1, a 30-meter-long space rock. He whizzed by Earth at a distance of more than 4 million kilometers.
NASA can detect only 30% of such space rocks before flying in Earth’s vicinity
So, the three asteroids passed relatively close to Earth if we think in astronomical distances, although for many of us those distances are unimaginable.
This type of flyby is called by NASA as close approaches, and are not usually detected before passing through the earth’s vicinity, but these type of space rocks are instead identified once they have crossed the vicinity of our world. In fact, as confirmed by the US space agency, only 30% of such space objects are observed within a week before approaching our planet.
Vadim is a passionate writer on various topics but especially on stuff related to health, technology, and science. Therefore, for Great Lakes Ledger, Vadim will cover health and Sci&Tech news.
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