A stadium-sized asteroid will zoom past the Earth in the very early hours of Thursday. Chances are that by the time you read this, the asteroid is merrily on its way towards the Sun, traveling at about 20 miles (32 km) a second.
The asteroid 2022 OE2 falls in this category of asteroids which astronomers had no idea was approaching the Earth. According toapproaches webpage maintained by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory , the asteroid is about 700 feet in size, approximately the size of a stadium.
It will fly past the Earth at a distance of 3.2 million miles which is a fair distance if you consider that the Moon is just 239,000 miles away. However, all objects that are within 4.6 million miles from the Earth are listed on the page, while an object bigger than 492 feet is classified as potentially hazardous.
Therefore, asteroid 2022 OE2 carries a significant risk since a collision with another asteroid, or the effect of the gravitational pull of a larger celestial object can significantly alter its trajectory and send it towards the Earth instead of merely flying by.Interestingly, all the following five asteroid approaches on the webpage happen to be asteroids that have been discovered this year.
The closest approach will be made by Asteroid 2022 OB5 as it flies away at a distance of 631,000 miles . At 18 feet , the asteroid is no larger than a car, though, and would probably burn up in the atmosphere if it were to ever come toward Earth.came mighty close to the Earth, even closer than the Moon. Not only were they traveling at 25,000 miles an hour, they were both spotted only a week prior, leaving very little time to respond.
The next asteroid may not be this small and could be even catastrophic if it hits our planet. In a bid to learn how to deflect such asteroids, NASA launched theIn September this year, the mission will crash into a 525 feet wide Moon of an asteroid and change its trajectory ever so slightly to determine if it can be done in the future.
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