Asteroid OC4 will come close to Earth tomorrow, August 9, NASA says. Here you have more information.
A bus-sized asteroid is expected to pass Earth on August 9. Although the asteroid is not on a collision course with Earth, it will pass so close to Earth that it has caught the attention of NASA. Read on to find out more.
NASA astronomers monitor all near-Earth objects (NEOs) for any potential threats to Earth, and that includes asteroids. The asteroid, named Asteroid 2022 OC4, was discovered just a month ago and is already on its way to Earth. If everything goes according to NASA’s calculations, the asteroid will pass by the Earth at a distance of only 1.5 million kilometers.
NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office monitors the sky with telescopes and tracks upcoming Near Earth Object (NEO) flybys. With the help of advanced telescopes, more than 750,000 asteroids have been discovered so far, of which more than 27,000 are near-Earth asteroids.
This asteroid is expected to be about the size of a bus. It is confirmed that it belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids, which are near-Earth asteroids (NEA) with perihelion distances less than 1.017 AU and semi-major axis greater than 1 AU.
It’s not the first time an asteroid has passed close to Earth this year. On May 9, asteroid 467460 (2006 JF42) passed close to Earth. Just a couple of days ago, an asteroid named Asteroid 2022 OX3 passed close to Earth at 18:45 on August 2nd. Most recently, the asteroid named Asteroid 2022 OE5 passed close to Earth in the early hours of August 5. Another asteroid of nearly the same size had just passed Earth on August 7.
Recent months have seen a sudden increase in the frequency of asteroid flybys. However, people will be relieved to know that none of them will be a potentially “world-ending” asteroid. In fact, this asteroid is not expected for at least a century or more.
“A 2068 impact is no longer in the realm of possibility, and our calculations show no risk of an impact for at least the next 100 years,” says Davide Farnocchia of the Center for Near Object Studies at the NASA Earth.