In principle, it does not pose a risk to the planet since the passage will be at a distance of 1.9 million kilometers.
An asteroid of approximately one kilometer in diameter will pass this Tuesday as “close” to Earth as it will in the next two centuries, but in principle it does not pose a risk to the planet since the passage will be at a distance of 1, 9 million kilometers.
Unlike the threat depicted in the recent movie “Don’t Look Up,” asteroid 7482 1994 PC1, more than twice the size of New York’s Empire State Building, “will safely fly past our planet” in this afternoon, as announced by NASA.
Giant 1-kilometer asteroid will pass close to Earth this month
Discovered in 1994 by NASA scientists, the asteroid is moving at 47,344 miles per hour (76,192 km/h), according to NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, the division of the aerospace agency that tracks comets and asteroids that could collide with the planet.
According to NASA, the object’s trajectory reaches its closest point to the planet at 4:51 p.m. today, US Eastern Time (21:51 GMT) and It will be the closest asteroid to the planet in the next 200 years.
Specialized media emphasize that it cannot be seen from Earth with the naked eye, but with a small telescope.
Schedules, how and where to see the asteroid 1994 PC1
Generally speaking, the best time to view it would be 21:05 UTC.
- Ecuador: 16:51
- Peru: 16:51
- Colombia: 16:51
- U.S (Miami/New York): 16:51
- Argentina: 18:51
- Chile: 18:51
- Uruguay: 18:51
- Paraguay: 18:51.
- Brazil (Rio de Janeiro): 18:51.
- Venezuela: 17:51
- Bolivia: 17:51
- Mexico: 15:51
One way to know where to place your vision is use the NASA astronomical finder, as will help to know the right time and the right coordinates, depending on where you are located.
If it is not possible to see it from where you are located, you will have the opportunity to watch the broadcast of astronomer Gianluca Masi, who will retransmit the observations within the framework of the Virtual Telescope project, as of 20:00 UTC; that is, 15:00 in Ecuador.
other asteroids
Today’s is not the largest asteroid that has passed close to Earth. That honor belongs to 3122 Florence (1981 ET3), between 2.5 (4 km) and 5.5 miles (8.8 km) in diameter, which It circled close to the planet in September 2017 and will not return until September 2, 2057.
A Near-Earth Object, as NASA calls the asteroids and comets it identifies and catalogs, have orbits that put them up to 30 million miles (48 million kilometers) from Earth.
Last year, NASA launched its first planetary defense mission from the US, which will deliberately collide a device with an asteroid to deflect it from its orbit and thus test technology that seeks to avoid a collision with Earth.
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission blasted off in November aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, USA.
DART will travel at about 6 kilometers per second and it is expected that in September this year it will collide with Dimorphos, the small moon of the asteroid Didymos, about 780 meters in diameter and which it seeks to alter its orbit. (I)
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