Giant asteroid to pass by Earth but poses no danger

| 17/01/2022 | 20 Comments
Orbit simulation of asteroid by NASA

(CNS): A giant asteroid will pass by Earth on Tuesday, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has revealed. The asteroid, known as 7482 (1994 PC1), measures more than a kilometre (3,280ft) across) and 1,052m (3,451ft) tall, which means it is larger than 99% of asteroids and about the size of the Golden Gate Bridge.

NASA scientists have been tracking this large “ancient piece of space rubble” for many years and although it is classified as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA), it will pass around 1.2 million miles away from this planet.

The asteroid was discovered in August 1994. According to NASA, its orbit crosses the orbit of Earth and has axes that are slightly larger.

“Near-Earth asteroid 1994 PC1 is very well known and has been studied for decades by our planetary defense experts,” NASA tweeted. “Rest assured, 1994 PC1 will safely fly past our planet.”

The asteroid will rip through our solar system at 43,754 miles per hour and amateur sky-gazers should be able to see it with a backyard telescope on Tuesday night. It can also be tracked on NASA’s Eyes website.


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Category: Science & Nature, Space

Comments (20)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    It is incredible how so many people have opinions on something they have only seen on a television documentary.
    What if the documentary was wrong?

  2. Gern Blenston says:

    Cmon CNS ,Sandy Hill broke this story September 1994 , in fact she is going to live stream from the Asteroid starting 9 p.m Cayman Time…the Minister of Education was meant to join her but unfortunately is out with the Deltacron. John John was asked in as a replacement..he apparently is going to tan unna yard.

  3. Anonymous says:

    Don’t look up, anti-vaxxers!

    • Anonymous says:

      So the asteroid will penetrate the firmament?
      I highly doubt it. You need an injection of truth.
      If an “asteroid” hits, there are a few people in the know to whom this will not be a surprise.
      The rest of us will be quaking in our basements clutching our “shopping bags for life”.

    • Anonymous says:

      So the phrase “anti- vaxxers” has become synonymous with “conspiracy theorists”?
      Personally, I find you people ignorant, unwilling to do your own research, generally illiterate and products of poor application during the education process.
      Other than that, you are top people.
      Some of you are my friends, but we only talk about the weather, sex, cars, houses, salaries and other vacuous topics.

  4. Miss H says:

    Hello there expert on space 🚀.By the research I’ve done on asteroids,how dangerously close by supernovas are and BLACK HOLES.By my research every thing on you website absolutely correct. Well done for getting this important information right.

  5. Anonymous says:

    Still more of a threat than the ‘rona.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Wish I had a telescope 🔭 to capture this phenomenal event. Maybe NASA will have a live showing of the event on TV, tomorrow night.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Hopefully hits west bay or east end

  8. The good news is that the asteroid will be passing more than 5 times as far away as the distance to the Moon – so rest assured that we are in no danger.

    The closest approach will be Tuesday, and luckily for us it is in a part of the sky that is fairly easy to see with a telescope or quality binoculars. It will far too dim to see with the naked eye, however. Further, the full moon’s glare isn’t helpful.

    Nevertheless, if a long exposure photo of the skies near the Pisces constellation is taken with a tripod (a minute or so), you may be able to spot that one of the points in the image has left a “trail” slightly different to those of the other stars because it is the asteroid moving past us. It won’t appear to move across the sky nearly as quickly as a satellite like the space station, however.

    Good luck!
    Ty

  9. Anonymous says:

    Don’t look up!

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