Asteroid four times the size of the Unity Statue passes Earth today | The Weather Channel – Articles de The Weather Channel

With a diameter of 774 meters, this asteroid is estimated to be more than four times the size of the Statue of Unity in Gujarat and twice that of the Empire State Building in New York. The massive celestial object will pass in front of our planet at a distance of only 3.66 lakh kilometers, that’s closer than the Moon is to us!

Asteroids have unstable trajectories, and such a large one can be of concern due to a gravitational tug that can potentially change the trajectory of the structure – the larger the size of an asteroid, the greater the risk of influence. gravitational is great. Therefore, astronomers classify these near-Earth objects as “potentially dangerous asteroids” (PHA).

However, according to NASA estimates, no large space rocks are currently on a collision course with Earth. Therefore, the likelihood of a huge asteroid hitting Earth is quite slim. In fact, no large object is likely to strike Earth at any time over the next several hundred years, as far as we can tell, according to NASA.

Last year, astronomers raised concerns about the potential impact of a massive asteroid named “Apophis”, which is expected to pass very close to Earth in 2068. However, NASA has subsequently dismissed any concern about such massive asteroid collisions on Earth for the next century.

The asteroid 2021 PT, with a diameter of 137 meters, is expected to pass the Earth at a distance of 49 lakh kilometers on September 11. The 2021 NY1, with a diameter of between 130 and 300 meters, will pass the Earth on September 22 at a distance of nearly 15 lakh kilometers. The asteroid is moving at over 33,600 kilometers per hour, and NASA has classified it as a PHA.

It is estimated that 99% of potentially hazardous objects will not pose an impact threat to Earth for at least the next 100 years.

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