NASA has announced that five asteroids will pass by Earth in the coming weeks, with one of them flying closer than usual. Although these near-Earth visits are not rare, they remind us why it's important to keep an eye on space objects that might come close to our planet.
Most asteroids burn up as soon as they enter the Earth's atmosphere, some larger asteroids, after entering the planet, may cause severe damage to human life. According to NASA, five massive asteroids are moving towards the Earth at a very high speed and is expected to make its closest approach to the planet this June.
The first asteroid in this sequence, designated as 2021 LW3, is expected to make its closest approach to Earth on 06 June 2024. This near Earth asteroid measures approximately 492 feet in diameter and will come within 2.2 million miles of our planet at a speed of 35,280 kilometres per hour.
Generally, any asteroid measuring greater than 450 feet wide and orbiting within 4.5 million miles of Earth is considered as Potentially hazardous Asteroid or PHA.
The second asteroid, known as 2019 LH6, is expected to pass by Earth on 13 June.
According to NASA, this space rock has a width of nearly 328 feet. Its orbit will take it almost as close as 1.1 million miles to the planet's surface while moving at a speed of 51480 kilometres per hour. 2019 LH6 orbits the sun every 457 days, coming as close as 0.84 Astronomical unit and reaching as far as 1.48 Astronomical unit from the sun.
Astronomical unit is the distance between earth and the sun, which is equal to 150 million kilometers.
On 17 June, the third huge asteroid to pass near Earth is Asteroid 2004 LB2. With an estimated size ranging from 400 to 656 feet, this space rock will pass Earth at a distance of 1.9 million miles traveling at a speed of almost 63360 kilometres per hour. It has been classified as Apollo class Near earth Asteroid by NASA.
On June 27, The fourth massive asteroid to pass near Earth is Asteroid 2011 UL21. During its approach, it will come as close as 4 million miles. According to NASA, the space rock is approximately 7578 feet wide which is approximately triple the size of the World’s Tallest building Burj Khalifa. It is travelling at a speed of almost 93240 kilometres per hour. It has been classified as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid by NASA. 2011 UL21 orbits the sun every 1,130 days, coming as close as 0.74 Astronomical unit and reaching as far as 3.51 Astronomical unit from the sun. Based on its brightness and the way it reflects light, 2011 UL21 is probably between 1.693 to 3.785 kilometres in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, very roughly comparable in size to Mount Everest. It has the capability of destroying an entire city if it hits the Earth due to its large size and fast speed.
The fifth asteroid 2024 JJ25 will pass by Earth on June 30, coming as close as 2.4 million miles away from our planet. It is predicted to have a diameter of around 623 feet.
NASA's calculations show that no known asteroids are currently on a path to hit Earth any time for at least 100 years. Should a large asteroid one day pose a direct threat to our planet, astronomers are already working on methods to thwart it. That was the motivation behind NASA's recent Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, which intentionally smashed a rocket into an asteroid to alter its orbital speed. The mission did not destroy its target outright, but did prove that head-on rocket attacks are capable of changing a space rock's orbital parameters in significant ways.
CREDIT:NASA
