Astronomers have captured a picture of a probably hazardous asteroid shortly earlier than it is set to make a detailed strategy to the Earth.
Information from the NASA's Middle for Close to Earth Object research exhibits that the asteroid—referred to as 2007 FF1—will come as shut as round 4.6 million miles of our planet at 9:35 p.m. UTC (5:35 p.m. ET) on April 1, 2022.
Whereas this will likely seem to be a big distance, in astronomical phrases it is comparatively small. It is equal to round 19 instances the typical distance between the Earth and the moon.
On March 24, astronomer Gianluca Masi with the Digital Telescope Undertaking (VTP) snapped a picture of 2007 FF1 utilizing the 17-inch "Elena" remotely operated, robotic telescope in Ceccano, Italy—situated round 60 miles south of Rome.
The picture comes from a single 180-second publicity and exhibits the asteroid approaching the Earth when it was situated round 7.2 million miles away from us. Within the snap, the house rock seems as a tiny white dot in opposition to a background of stars.
The asteroid was found on March 17, 2007, by the Catalina Sky Survey—a NASA-funded undertaking primarily based on the College of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Lab in Tucson.
The objective of the survey is to find and monitor near-Earth objects (NEOs)—comparable to comets and asteroids—in an effort to fulfill the congressional mandate to catalogue not less than 90 p.c of the estimated inhabitants of NEOs which might be bigger than 140 meters (459 toes) in diameter.
Astronomers have already recognized greater than 90 p.c of NEOs which might be bigger than one kilometer (3,280 toes) in diameter.
Based on the CNEOS, greater than 28,000 NEOs have been recognized up to now. The overwhelming majority of those NEOs are asteroids, though there are a handful of comets.
A few of these NEOs are categorized as "probably hazardous," that means they've orbits that come inside 4.6 million miles of Earth's personal path across the solar, whereas additionally measuring greater than 140 meters in diameter.
CNEOS director Paul Chodas has beforehand advised Newsweek that objects are categorized as probably hazardous as a result of they're in orbits that "come shut sufficient to Earth's that it's attainable over many centuries and millennia they could evolve into Earth-crossing orbits. So it's prudent to maintain monitoring these asteroids for many years to return and to check how their orbits is likely to be evolving."
Whereas 2007 FF1 is assessed as "probably hazardous," Masi stated in a press release that there are "no dangers in any respect for our planet" relating to its flyby.
He stated the asteroid is estimated to measure round 200 meters in diameter, which might make it taller than the House Needle in Seattle.
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