Last Updated on October 6, 2020, 7:26 AM AST by Anthony Morris
The asteroid monitoring centre of NASA has claimed that an all-new asteroid which is almost equal to the size of a Boeing 747 would hurtle past the Earth on October 7.
The name of the Asteroid is 2020 RK2, and it is expected to cross the orbit of Earth at a distance of 2,380,800 miles away from the Earth.
NASA first discovered the celestial body in September and has found the size of the Asteroid to be from 118 feet to 265 feet wide. The space rock would rush past the Earth at quite a slower pace of 6.68 km per second.
Also, astronomers have predicted that 2020 RK2 is very unlikely to be visible to sky-observers because of its slow speed.
NASA has said that the space rock would come from Andromeda constellation which is 10.3 billion light-years away from the Earth.
The Asteroid is classified into the category of Apollo asteroid.
On September 24, an asteroid zoom past the Earth at a distance of 13,000 miles and another one is expected to whizz past the Earth at a distance of 6.2 million km on October 6, just a day before 2020 RK2 would glance towards the Earth’s orbit. The other Asteroid is named as 2020 RR2, and it has a diameter of 26 meters.
NASA scientists also advised the public not to panic as this gigantic Asteroid will only enter the Earth’s orbit but will not collide with the planet. According to the estimation, it will hurl towards the Earth at around 1.12 pm ET (10.42 pm IST).
These asteroids are mostly found between Mars and Jupiter and often come inside the planet’s orbit due to their attractive gravitational force.
As per NASA other planet’s gravity may pull these celestial bodies towards themselves while making them hurl the distance in vast space and avoiding their collision with the planets.
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.
