NASA tracked more than 1,400 asteroids in 2020, including one large enough to end civilization.
The space agency’s Center for Near Earth Object investigates rocks that can bring them within 1.3 astronomical units of the sun – or 45 million kilometers from Earth, which is spatially close.
In April 2020, the largest spotted – Asteroid 52768 – is classified as a potentially dangerous asteroid (PHA). It measures between 1.8 km and 4.1 km in diameter, it can even be as much as five times as big as the Burj Khalifa – the world’s tallest building.
Although this particular asteroid is not going to bring about the end of days any time soon, it is not something that NASA has ruled out in the future.
This, of course, would be quite short-sighted, given the vastness of the universe and the vast amount of things floating around there.
NASA discovers about 30 new Near Earth Objects (NEOs) every week and has been eyeing more than 19,000 objects since the beginning of 2019.
No matter how hard they try, they can all spot the impossible, which means an unexpected impact cannot be ruled out.
The entire event was broadcast live online by the scientists during the Virtual Telescope Project in Rome, and they showed the moment when the giant celestial stone piled past our planet in August.
Gian Masi, who hosted the live stream, said: “We know where the asteroid is because we know the orbit. And this same orbit makes it possible for us to say ‘it will not hit us’. . “
Although the telescope material is not exactly the highest quality, you can clearly see the asteroid through a starry sky.
4 months agoAnother asteroid took a ‘near-Earth approach’ on 8 September. The 37-meter-long NEO (near Earth), known as 2020 PT4, moves past the Earth and the Moon at a distance of just over one million miles away – which in the context of space definitely counts as ‘near’.
The space rock, which is about the length of two trucks, crashed at a speed of about 28,090 miles (12.56 kilometers per second).
However, NASA has assured us that if 2020 PT4 ever collides with Earth, it means that it is relatively small (in terms of space) that it would probably disintegrate into the atmosphere and cause minimal damage to our planet.
The asteroid, called 2020 QG, flew in about 2,950 km from Earth – very asteroid-like nearby.
In fact, according to asteroid trackers and a catalog compiled by Sormano Astronomical Observatory in Italy, it’s the closest ever recorded.