Dangerous Asteroid To Miss Earth By 10 Times The Distance To The Moon

A mile-long “possibly dangerous” asteroid will fly by Earth this week, bringing the total number of huge asteroids that will pass reasonably near to Earth in 2022 to four.

So, according to NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, the object, dubbed 1989 JA, is about 1.1 miles in length, or 5,905 ft. 1989 JA is also one of 878 near-Earth entities having a diameter of more than 3,280 feet, according to Astronomers.

There really is no reason to be alarmed about such a huge asteroid impacting Earth. This will be the shortest distance of 1989 JA to Earth that’s ever been on Friday, at a proximity of 2.5 million mi (approximately 10 x the range to the moon).

Some scientists estimate the asteroid is moving at 30000 miles per hour. The velocity of a gunshot traveling into the air is 17 x faster than that. The asteroid could circumnavigate the globe in 45 min at this pace.

As an Apollo asteroid that crosses Earth’s path, Eleanor Helin’s 1989 discovery at the Palomar Observatory located in Southern California is classified as “possibly dangerous.” Within the upcoming 172 years, NASA predicts that the object will be the nearest to Earth.

NASA is ready for the chance that an impact of catastrophic magnitude would reach Earth, even if 1989 JA does not. The DART, meaning Double Asteroid Redirection Test, was conducted on November 25 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to investigate whether it is feasible to deflect an asteroid.

Telescope Live, as well as the Virtual Telescope Project, shall broadcast the asteroid’s flyby on Thursday as well as Friday.

This close “approach” will be no big deal for us, but it does serve as a reminder that we live in a unique time in the history of our species. Maybe we’ll discover some unexpected details about this asteroid — details that will contribute to our understanding of the universe — or maybe this one will stay in the shadows, never to be seen again.