An asteroid bigger than Burj Khalifa is heading towards the earth, and people seem worried about it. Here we have explored if there are any Potentially Hazardous Asteroids near earth and if there is any threat related to it.
Just recently news of an asteroid heading towards earth is making rounds on the internet. The asteroid seems bigger than New York’s Empire State Building and is expected to pass the earth this week.
The news has sparked the interest of internet users and many of them have started searching about whether or not this asteroid will pose a threat for habitants of earth. They are looking to get more details about if there are any other potentially hazardous asteroids near earth. If you are among these users worried about the safety of the earth and its inhabitants, here we have got you all the details.
An Asteroid Is Heading Towards Earth
As revealed by the latest news, a kilometer-wide asteroid, which is bigger than the world’s tallest building Burj Khalifa is expected to pass our planet. The asteroid will pass earth in the upcoming week.
The specified date for this asteroid to pass the earth is Tuesday, January 18th. It will pass the planet at a speed of 47,000 miles per hour.
NASA has revealed that the asteroid will fly past the Earth 1.2 million miles away. The agency has declared this distance to be a safe one.
This space rock that is expected to cross is named (7482) 1994 PC1 and was first discovered in the year 1994. The next time this space rock is expected to pass by the earth in 2105.
In a recent Tweet, NASA revealed, “Near-Earth #asteroid 1994 PC1 (~1 km wide) is very well known and has been studied for decades by our #PlanetaryDefense experts. Rest assured, 1994 PC1 will safely fly past our planet 1.2 million miles away next Tues., Jan. 18.” The government agency also has added a link following which you can track the asteroid.
Are Asteroids Hazardous?
As revealed by the Astronomers, our planet is surrounded by over 25,000 asteroids; the majority of these are 500 feet wide or larger.
Talking about these space rocks Nancy Chabot, the chief planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory revealed that they will not lead to a “global extinction event”. She further revealed that some of the asteroids could be “devastating” if they crash on earth.
She further said, “The ones that we’re most concerned about right now are things that are a few hundred meters (across). And that’s because we’ve found less than half of this population”. “And so we’re not really sure where all of them are.”
“We’re actually not talking, like, global extinction event. But regional devastation on the area that could wipe out a city or even a small state. And so it is a real concern. It is a real threat”, she continued.
Just in the first 13 days of 2022, several numbers of asteroids have passed by our planet. 5 asteroids had passed by the earth within the first week.
As the news of asteroids is trending on the internet, users have reacted to it differently on different social media platforms. One person wrote on Twitter, “We’re safe, but it’s a little too close for comfort. An asteroid twice the size of the Empire State Building is projected to pass Earth next week”.
Another added, “The question I have, the thing that’s been bothering me for a while now, why would a three-star general charge people for free snacks. I mean he must have known they’d find out eventually.”
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The Last Words
This was all about if there are any potentially hazardous asteroids near earth or not. We just hope that earth remains safe from these space rocks passing by the planet every single day.