This scary asteroid is speeding towards Earth today! What does NASA have to say?

Asteroids have been flying closely past the planet all year. Last month alone witnessed nearly 40 asteroids passing by and September is set to follow the trend more than a dozen asteroids have already passed by Earth closely. However, all these asteroids are relatively small in size with a width of a couple of hundred feet. Still, NASA’ Planetary Defense Coordination Office has classified all these asteroids as “Potentially Hazardous Objects” due to the close proximity with which they pass by Earth. Now, another one is on its way towards Earth today.

Asteroid 2022 RJ2 to zoom past Earth today, September 12

NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office has warned that Asteroid 2022 RJ2 is 45 feet wide, nearly the size of a house.

it is already on its way towards Earth travelling at a blistering speed of 57,096 and will just miss the planet today! Although it will not collide with Earth, a slight deviation in its trajectory due to the Earth’s gravitational pull can send it towards Earth for an impact. It will make its closest approach to Earth today at a distance of just 1.17 million kilometers.

According to the-sky.org, the Asteroid 2022 RJ2 was discovered very recently on September 3, 2022 and belongs to the main Apollo group of asteroids. Asteroid 2022 RJ2 takes 867 days to complete one orbit around the Sun.

The asteroid’s farthest point from the Sun is 425 million kilometers, and the nearest point to the Sun is 107 million kilometers.

Bennu asteroid studied by OSIRIS-REx spacecraft! Will it impact Earth?

NASA JPL has been observing an asteroid named Bennu which orbits the sun every 1.2 years and makes a relatively close approach to Earth about every six years. The space agency has mapped the trajectory of the Bennu asteroid, which as a diameter of nearly 1,614 feet, using the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft up to the year 2135 using 29 radar observations and 478 optical observations of the asteroid, conducted by trackers around the world between September 1999 and January 2011.

According to NASA JPL, the close approach with Earth in the year 2135 will change the asteroid’s trajectory a little and could potentially result in an Earth impact between 2175 and 2199.