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NASA defines Near-Earth Asteroids as celestial bodies that orbit the Sun and approach the Earth’s orbit. These asteroids can pose a danger to our planet if they collide with it, resulting in significant damage. To prevent potential impact and damage, NASA, ESA, and other space agencies closely monitor any Potentially Hazardous Objects. Currently, these agencies are on high alert as an asteroid is projected to approach Earth as soon as today, and it is colossal!
Asteroid 2012 KY3 information
The asteroid has been named Asteroid 2012 KY3 by NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies. Asteroid 2012 KY3 will pass Earth today, April 13, at a distance of 4.7 million kilometers. In fact, it is already rushing towards the planet, travelling at a fearsome speed of 63186 kilometers per hour.
What’s shocking about the asteroid is its colossal size. NASA has estimated Asteroid 2012 KY3 to be nearly 2200 feet, which is about twice the height of the Empire State Building! It belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids.
This asteroid has been classified as a Potentially Hazardous Object. NASA defines them as celestial objects whose orbits are predicted to bring them within 0.05 Astronomical Units of Earth (5 million miles or 8 million kilometers) and of a size large enough to reach Earth’s surface – that is, greater than approximately 30 to 50 meters.
How is an Asteroid’s orbit Calculated?
An asteroid’s orbit is computed by finding the elliptical path about the sun that best fits the available observations of the object using various space and ground-based telescopes such as NASA’s NEOWISE telescope and its brand-new Sentry II algorithm. That is, the object’s computed path about the sun is adjusted until the predictions of where the asteroid should have appeared in the sky at several observed times match the positions where the object was observed to be at those same time.
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