NASA Tracked an Asteroid on a Close Approach to Earth

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NASA tracked a massive space object heading close to Earth on a speed estimated at 77,248 mph. According to the US space agency measurements, the asteroid was anticipated to get close to our planet’s edge of space yesterday. The asteroid’s velocity is almost 21,54/hour.

At these astonishing speeds, the space agency explained how the cosmic object approached Earth at approximately 4.33 AM GMT or 11.33 PM EST, on Monday. Such news comes after NASA’s tracking systems first detected the asteroid last week. Also, the space rock was confirmed by the JPL (NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory) and the CNEOS (the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies) on February 27.

About the Massive Asteroid That Got Close to Earth

The recently detected asteroid, dubbed Asteroid 2020 DZ3, was classified as an Apollo-kind NEO (Near-Earth Object). Such types of asteroids move around our host star on orbits that reach Earth’s orbit, like the Asteroid 1862 Apollo. NEOs are all space object that circles the Sun within 1.3 astronomical units. Any approach of cosmic features that approach Earth at that length is classified as a NEO, according to NASA.

Space Rocks Remain the Most Significant Threat from Cosmos

Also, only one astronomical unit is around 150 million kilometers. NASA measures the asteroid is somewhere between 21m to 47m across. At the more moderate end of the appraisal, the cosmic feature resembles the Chelyabinsk Meteor a lot. Back in 2013, an undetected meteor reached Russia’s Chelyabinsk region. The space object exploded with almost ten times the power of the Hiroshima nuclear bomb. Approximately 1,000 people were harmed with shattered pieces of glass.

Asteroid 2020 DZ3, however, has a similar height as the well-known Chicago Water Tower. Such a massive asteroid could bring severe damage. Luckily, at its closest, the space object approached Earth from a length of almost 0,00765 astronomical units, meaning that it missed us big time!

Tiesha loves to share her passion for everything that’s beautiful in this world. Apart from writing on her beauty blog and running her own beauty channel on Youtube, she also enjoys traveling and photography. Tiesha covers various stories on the website.