Asteroid Watch logo.
Aug 2, 2022
Both rocks passed well beyond the moon's orbit.
Near Earth Asteroids. Image Credits: NASA/ESA
Two skyscraper-size asteroids are zooming toward Earth this past weekend, with one making its closest approach on Friday (July 29) and the second whizzing by on Saturday (July 30).
The first asteroid, dubbed 2016 CZ31, fly by around 7 p.m. ET (23:00 GMT) on past Friday, whizzing at an estimated 34,560 mph (55,618 km/h), according to NASA.
Astronomers estimate that the asteroid measures about 400 feet (122 meters) across at its widest point, making it about as wide as a 40-story building is tall. The asteroid safely miss our planet, passing about 1,740,000 miles (2,800,000 kilometers) out from Earth — or more than seven times the average distance between Earth and the moon. According to NASA, this space rock makes close approaches to Earth every few years, with the next one scheduled for January 2028.
On past Saturday, a second, ever larger asteroid skim past our planet, albeit at a greater distance from Earth. That asteroid, named 2013 CU83, measures approximately 600 feet (183 m) across at its widest visible point, and passing by about 4,320,000 miles (6,960,000 km) from Earth, or about 18 times the average distance between Earth and the moon.
This colossal space rock have traveled to 13,153 mph (21,168 km/h) when it nears Earth at 7:37 p.m. ET (23:37 GMT on past Saturday).
Both of these close encounters are significantly further afield than the asteroid 2022 NF, which came within 56,000 miles (90,000 km) — or about 23% the average distance between Earth and the moon — on July 7.
Near-Earth asteroids. Animation Credit: NASA
NASA and other space agencies closely monitor thousands of near-Earth objects like these. Even if an asteroid's trajectory puts it millions of miles from our planet, there is an extremely slim chance that the asteroid's orbit could shift slightly after interacting with the gravity of a larger object, such as a planet; even such a tiny shift could potentially put an asteroid on a collision course with Earth on a future flyby.
As such, space agencies take planetary defense very seriously. In November 2021, NASA launched an asteroid-deflecting spacecraft called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), which will slam directly into the 525-foot-wide (160 m) asteroid Dimorphos in autumn 2022. The collision won't destroy the asteroid, but it may change the space rock's orbital path slightly, Live Science previously reported. The mission will help test the viability of asteroid deflection, should some future asteroid pose an imminent danger to our planet.
Related articles:
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https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/07/china-developing-means-of-saving-earth.html
Impact in 2052 ruled out as ESA counts down to Asteroid Day
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/06/impact-in-2052-ruled-out-as-esa-counts.html
NASA, SpaceX Launch DART: First Test Mission to Defend Planet Earth
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/11/nasa-spacex-launch-dart-first-test.html
Catching asteroid deflection mission's first words
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/11/catching-asteroid-deflection-missions.html
Planetary defenders: after NASA’s DART comes ESA’s Hera
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/11/planetary-defenders-after-nasas-dart.html
Related links:
ESA’s Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre (NEOCC): https://www.esa.int/Safety_Security/Near-Earth_Object_Coordination_Centre
ESA’s Planetary Defence: https://www.esa.int/Safety_Security/Planetary_Defence
NASA’s Eyes on Asteroids: https://eyes.nasa.gov/apps/asteroids
NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office: https://www.nasa.gov/planetarydefense/overview
NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO): https://www.nasa.gov/planetarydefense
Minor Planet Center (MPC): https://minorplanetcenter.net/
Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS): https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/
Asteroids and near-Earth objects: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch
Originally published on Live Science, Image (mentioned), Animation (mentioned).
Greetings, Orbiter.ch
