The Largest Asteroid will move past the Earth on Tuesday and it’s not the only one. In total, seven asteroids are expected to pass by our planet by the end of the week. The Largest Asteroid, named 2021 KT1, is approximately 600 feet, about the size of the Seattle Space Needle and taller than the Washington Monument.
Scientists believe it could be as large as 1,049 feet, comparative in size to New York City’s Chrysler Building. The asteroid is classified by NASA as a potentially hazardous object because it is a near-Earth object that is larger than 492 feet and passed within 4.6 million miles of Earth. The average distance between Earth and the moon is about 239,000 miles.
The Largest Asteroid 2021 KT1 came within 4.5 million miles of Earth, a relatively close encounter. It flew past at around 40,000 miles per hour, according to scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. There is no possibility of the asteroid hitting the earth.Dr Paul Chodas, the director of NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies said that it is only potentially hazardous in the long term. It has no chance of impacting Earth this week or any time within the next 2 centuries. Researchers have computed its future close approaches for the next 200 years and we know that it cannot impact Earth within that time, or probably ever.
Six other asteroids, which are the leftover rocks that are over four billion years old, are also passing by Earth this week. However, they are all smaller than the 2021 KT1. Asteroid 2021 KT2, which is about 23 feet, also passed on Tuesday, as did 2018 LB, which is about 70 feet. They came within 181,000 miles and 694,000 miles of Earth.
Be First to Comment