Last Updated on July 18, 2020, 7:11 PM AST by Anthony Morris
NASA has issued a warning that a massive asteroid named “Asteroid 2020 ND” would move past the Earth on July 24.
Additionally, there is information regarding two asteroids which are expected to whiz past the Earth on Sunday. The two asteroids are named as 2016 DY30 and 2020 ME3 by NASA.
NASA said in a statement that Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) are currently defined on the basis of parameters which measure the potential of the asteroid to make a threatening close approach to our planet.
According to NASA, asteroid 2020 ND, which would pass the Earth is around 170 metre-long, and it would be as close as 0.034 astronomical units (5,086,328 kilometres) to the Earth.
The space rock is travelling currently at a speed of around 48,000 kilometres per hour. The distance of this asteroid from the Earth is what categories it as “potentially dangerous”.
On the other hand, 2016 DY30 is heading towards the Earth at a speed of around 54,000 kilometres per hour, and 2020 ME3 is travelling at a speed of 16,000 kilometres per hour.
The 2016 DY30 is the smaller of the two asteroids, and it is 15 feet wide.
Center for Near-Earth Object Studies has said that the 2016 DY30 would be as close as around 0.02306 astronomical units to the Earth which is equal to about 3.4 million kilometres.
The closest approach of the bigger space rock would be on July 19 at 10:02 AM IST. The bigger asteroid has been classified as an Apollo asteroid as it crosses the path of Earth while it travels around the sun.
The 2020 ME3 would be farther away from Earth when it would reach its closest distance to our planet at 02:51 AM IST on July 21.
The expected distance of the smaller asteroid from the Earth is about 0.03791 astronomical units which are equal to 5.6 million kilometres.
It has been labelled as an Amor asteroid because it does not cross the path of Earth and only flies close to Earth on some occasions.
However, these asteroids do not pose a threat to our planet.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
