NASA reports that a 120-foot asteroid will come within 5.2 million kilometers of Earth; Learn about its speed

February, like previous months, has seen several asteroid approaches. Although there was no asteroid passing Earth yesterday, NASA has reported that two asteroids will come close to the planet today, February 28. These asteroids were monitored using advanced technology like the NEOWISE telescope, Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), Pans-STARRS1, and Catalina Sky Survey. Despite the close approach, the US Space Agency assures that the asteroid is not expected to collide with Earth’s surface. Learn more about the upcoming encounter with Asteroid 2024 CE7.

Asteroid 2024 CE7: Close approach data

NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) has named the asteroid Asteroid 2024 CE7. It passes the Earth today at a distance of about 5.2 million kilometers. The US space agency says it is already traveling towards Earth in orbit at 69,645 kilometers per hour, which is even faster than the space shuttle! It is one of two asteroids to pass the planet, the other being Asteroid 2024 CC7.

This space rock belongs to the Apollo group of Near-Earth Asteroids, which are Earth-passing space rocks with semi-major axes larger than Earth’s. These asteroids are named after the huge 1862 Apollo asteroid discovered by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth in the 1930s.

Other details

NASA has also revealed that asteroid 2024 CE7 has not passed by Earth before and this will be its first close approach. After today, this Apollo group asteroid is not expected to pass by the planet anytime in the near future.

Is it dangerous?

NASA says this asteroid poses no threat to Earth due to its relatively small size. At 120 feet wide, Asteroid 2024 CE7 is the size of an airplane. On the other hand, asteroids larger than 492 feet and passing Earth closer than 7.5 million kilometers are classified as “potentially hazardous objects”.