NASA reveals that a 120-foot asteroid will pass by Earth today; Find out its proximity.
Last month, Earth experienced frequent visits from asteroids, and it seems that February will follow suit. NASA, utilizing its advanced telescopes like NEOWISE, Pans-STARRS1, and Catalina Sky Survey, has identified two asteroids that will pass by Earth today, February 1. Remarkably, one of these asteroids is nearly the size of an aircraft. Stay informed about this close encounter with the asteroid happening today.
Asteroid 2003 BM4: Details
The asteroid, named Asteroid 2003 BM4 by NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), is hurtling toward Earth in an orbit at 39,102 kilometers 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 3.3 million kilometers.
Although this asteroid is passing close by, it is not large enough to cause panic or potential damage. According to NASA, the asteroid is about 130 feet across, making it almost the size of an airplane! However, if it hits the ground, it can still cause some damage. In 2013, a smaller 59-foot asteroid exploded over the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia, damaging 7,000 buildings and injuring more than 1,000 people.
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.
NASA has also revealed that asteroid 2003 BM4 has passed Earth before and this is not its first approach. It passed the Earth for the first time on February 5, 1903, at a distance of about 12 million kilometers. After today, it will come close to the planet again on January 13, 2028, at a distance of almost 55 million kilometers.
