NASA tracked asteroid big enough to ‘end civilization’ this year

NASA tracked more than 1,400 asteroids in 2020, including one big enough to end civilization.

The space agency’s Center for Near Earth Object is examining rocks that could bring them within 1.3 astronomical units of the sun – or 45 million kilometers from Earth, which is close in terms of space.

In April 2020, the largest spotted – asteroid 52768 – was classified as a potentially dangerous asteroid (PHA). It measured between 1.8 km and 4.1 km in diameter, it could even be up to five times the size of the Burj Khalifa – the tallest building in the world.

While this particular asteroid won’t be the end of the days any time soon, it’s not something NASA has ruled out in the future.

Obviously that would be pretty short-sighted given the vastness of the universe and the amount of stuff floating in there.

NASA discovers around 30 new near-Earth objects (NEOs) every week and has looked at more than 19,000 objects since the start of 2019.

But, no matter how hard they try, they can’t spot them all, which means an unexpected impact can’t be ruled out.

The entire event was broadcast live online by scientists at the Virtual Telescope Project in Rome, and they showed the moment the giant celestial stone piled up in front of our planet in August.

Gian Masi, who was the host of the live broadcast, said: “We know where the asteroid is because we know its orbit. And that same orbit allows us to say ‘it won’t hit us.’

While the telescope images aren’t exactly the highest quality images, you can clearly see the asteroid heading through a starry sky.

Another asteroid made a “near-Earth approach” on September 8. The 37-meter-long NEO (Near Earth Object), known as 2020 PT4, passed the Earth and the Moon at a distance of just over a million kilometers – which, in the context of space, definitely counts as “ close ”.

The space rock, which is roughly the length of two trucks, traveled at a speed of about 28090 miles per hour (12.56 kilometers per second).

However, NASA has assured us that if 2020 PT4 collides with Earth, its relatively small size (in terms of space) means it would likely disintegrate in the atmosphere, causing minimal damage to our planet.

The asteroid, called 2020 HQ, flew inside about 2,950 km (1,830 miles) from Earth – extremely close in terms of asteroids.

In fact, according to asteroid trackers and a catalog compiled by Sormano Italy’s astronomical observatory, it is the closest ever recorded.