Potentially Hazardous 1500-foot asteroid hurtling towards Earth at fearsome pace!

NASA uses telescopes, such as Pans-STARRS1 in Maui, Hawaii, and Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson, Arizona, to detect near-Earth objects like asteroids and comets. To collect accurate information about an asteroid’s trajectory and attributes, it employs its ground-based radar. While these space rocks are far-off in space, NASA tech helps to observe and track them for any potential danger. NASA’s space-based observatory, NEOWISE, has also identified hundreds of asteroids by scanning the skies with near-infrared wavelengths of light from its orbit around Earth’s poles.

NASA, with the help of this advanced technology, has recently discovered another asteroid that could potentially come close to Earth soon.

Asteroid 1994 XD information

NASA has issued a warning about a particular asteroid called Asteroid 1994 XD, as it will be approaching very close to Earth. The asteroid is currently traveling at a speed of almost 77301 kilometers per hour and is set to make its closest approach to Earth on June 12 at a distance of just 3.1 million kilometers!

While this asteroid is not a planet-killer, it has become a cause for concern due to its sheer size and has been declared a Potentially Hazardous Object. Scientists estimate that it is around 1500 feet wide, making it almost as big as a bridge! NASA has revealed that it made its very first approach to Earth back on May 31, 1904, at a distance of 2.5 million kilometers, while its last approach was on November 27, 2012.

It belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids which are Earth-crossing space rocks with semi-major axes larger than Earth’s.

Asteroid Apophis

NASA and other space agencies have kept a watchful eye on a particular asteroid that was previously expected to impact Earth. Although it has now been determined that the asteroid will not crash into the planet’s surface, it will make an extremely close approach this decade, giving scientists a chance to study it.

This asteroid is named 99942 Apophis and has been given the designation Asteroid 2004 MN4 by NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies. According to NASA, the Asteroid 99942 Apophis asteroid will make an extremely close trip to Earth on April 13, 2029. On that day, this space rock will come as close as 38000 kilometers to Earth’s surface. This is closer than many geostationary satellites orbiting the planet.