NASA reports that a house-sized asteroid will soon pass by Earth; Find out how close it will come
NASA has used cutting-edge technology like the NEOWISE telescope, Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), Pans-STARRS1, and Catalina Sky Survey to study an asteroid that will pass close to Earth on February 27. Although the asteroid will come near our planet, NASA has confirmed that it will not collide with the surface. Learn more about the upcoming close encounter with Asteroid 2024 CT7.
Asteroid 2024 CT7: Close approach data
According to data revealed by NASA’s CNEOS (Center for Near-Earth Object Studies), asteroid 2024 CT7 is expected to pass Earth at a distance of only 2.3 million kilometers. It is already orbiting the earth at a speed of 27762 kilometers per hour, which is almost as fast as the Intercontinental Ballistic Missle (ICBM)!
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
According to NASA, asteroid 2024 CT7 has passed Earth before. It passed the planet for the first time on June 5, 1949 at a distance of about 54 million kilometers. After today, it will come close to Earth again on April 17, 2035, at a distance of 52 million kilometers.
Is it dangerous?
NASA says this asteroid poses no threat to Earth due to its relatively small size. At 52 feet wide, Asteroid 2024 CT7 is the size of a house. On the other hand, asteroids larger than 492 feet and passing Earth closer than 7.5 million kilometers are classified as “potentially hazardous objects”.
