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The imposing asteroid measures up to 430 meters (430 m) and is fast approaching the Earth. Nicknamed 1998 FF14, the asteroid flies towards our planet on a near approach trajectory. NASA expects the asteroid FF14 to arrive near the Earth on September 24 in the morning. When that happens, the rock will fly at a blistering speed of 22.26 km per second or 80,136 km / h.
The asteroid FF14 is an Apollo-type near-Earth object, orbiting the inner circles of the solar system.
Apollo asteroids follow a trajectory similar to that of the 1862 Apollo asteroid.
More specifically, however, astronomers have classified FF14 as a potentially dangerous asteroid or PHA.
NASA ranks all asteroids over 140 meters in diameter as PHA.
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The impact of an asteroid of this size threatens damage on a regional or continental scale.
A report published in 2018 by the Office of Science and Technology of the White House described the dangers associated with PLHIV.
The report reads as follows: "The largest NEOs, whose size exceeds 140 meters, are likely to inflict severe damage on entire regions or continents.
"Such objects would hit Earth with a minimum of more than 60 megatons of TNT, which is more than the most powerful nuclear device ever tested.
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"Fortunately, they are much less common and easier to detect and track than smaller NEOs."
Tuesday, September 24, the asteroid FF14 will approach our planet around 8:27 am (7:27 am).
As close as possible, the space rock will approach our planet at a distance of 0.02780 astronomical unit (at).
A single astronomical unit equals the distance from Earth to the Sun, which is about 93 million miles (149.6 million km).
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The asteroid FF14 will significantly reduce this distance to only 4.18 million km.
In human terms, overflight can seem like a lifetime.
But on a larger scale of the solar system, the FF14 approach is a near-miss.
NASA stated: "When they gravitate around the Sun, objects close to the Earth can sometimes approach the Earth.
"Note that a" near "passage astronomically can be very far in human terms: millions or even tens of millions of kilometers."
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