Earth to Have Near Encounter with Chelyabinsk-Sized Asteroid Today
Despite the presence of numerous ground and space-based observatories and telescopes operated by NASA, ESA, and other space agencies, an asteroid managed to evade detection. This particular asteroid, known as Asteroid 2023 NT1, came closest to Earth on July 13, entering within a 60,000-mile radius, which is four times closer than the Moon. Surprisingly, it was not a small object, measuring nearly 200 feet wide, making it four times larger than the Chelyabinsk asteroid that caused significant destruction in Russia. Eventually, the Asteroid Terrestrials-Impacts Last Alert System (ATLAS) observatory in South Africa spotted it on July 15.
However, it was an anomaly and NASA continues to operate, and now the US space agency has discovered another asteroid with its advanced tracking technology that could potentially come very close to Earth.
Asteroid 2021 JA5: Close approach details
NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) has named this space rock asteroid 2021 JA5. It is expected to make its closest approach to Earth today, September 6. However, this is not the first time that this asteroid has been observed approaching the Earth. Its first close approach took place on May 17, 2021, when it passed the planet at a distance of 2.1 million kilometers. NASA predicts that no close approach is expected in the near future.
The asteroid will make its closest approach to Earth at a distance of about 5.1 million kilometers. Shockingly, it is already hurtling towards Earth in orbit, traveling at a speed of about 39070 kilometers per hour, which is much faster than the speed of a hypersonic ballistic missile!
Other information
Asteroid 2021 JA5 belongs to Apollo’s group of Near-Earth Asteroids, which are Earth-crossing space rocks with semimajor axes greater than the Earth’s axis. These asteroids are named after the huge 1862 Apollo asteroid discovered by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth in the 1930s.
The asteroid is nearly 59 feet across, the same size as the Chelyabinsk asteroid that injured 1,400 people and damaged 7,000 buildings when it exploded over the Russian city in 2013. Asteroid 2021 JA5 is comparable to a house. size.
