NASA reports that an asteroid will come closer to Earth than the Moon.
According to the US Space Agency, NASA, they employ sophisticated space and ground-based telescopes like NEOWISE, Pans-STARRS1, and Catalina Sky Survey to monitor asteroids that could pose a danger to Earth. Utilizing this advanced technology, they have recently discovered an asteroid that will pass by Earth today, February 8, at a distance closer than the Moon. The US Space Agency provides information regarding its velocity, dimensions, proximity, and other pertinent details.
Asteroid 2024 CK1: Details
The asteroid, named Asteroid 2024 CK1 by NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), is hurtling toward Earth in an orbit at 27,000 miles per hour, much faster than an intercontinental ballistic missile. ICBM)! NASA expects this space rock to fly past Earth today at a distance of about 228,000 kilometers. It is even closer than the Moon, which is located about 384,000 kilometers from the planet.
Even though this asteroid is passing so close, it is not large enough to cause panic or potential damage. According to NASA, the asteroid is only 15 feet wide, making it almost the size of a car. Therefore, it is not classified as a “potentially dangerous article”. These are space objects larger than 492 feet and pass the planet within a radius of 7.5 million kilometers.
This space rock belongs to the Apollo group of Near-Earth Asteroids, which are space rocks that pass through the Earth and whose semi-major axes are larger than the Earth’s axis. These asteroids are named after the huge 1862 Apollo asteroid discovered by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth in the 1930s.
NASA has also revealed that asteroid 2024 CK1 has passed Earth before and this is not its first approach. It first came as close as 53 million kilometers to the planet on June 21, 2014. After today, it is not expected to pass Earth again in the near future.
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