Last Updated on June 25, 2020, 6:55 AM AST by Anthony Morris
A giant asteroid, named as 441987 (2010 NY65), shot past the Earth on June 24, Wednesday.
This incident occurred during the early hours of the day. It is said that the flyby of the asteroid occurred roughly around 06:44 UTC.
According to a report which was published in Express, and quoted NASA, the size of this giant space rock was between 40 metres and 310 metres.
Its size is estimated to be three times that of Big Ben in London.
Further, the speed of the giant space rock is estimated to be around 46,400 kmph, whereas, the distance at which the giant asteroid would have passed past Earth would be approximately 2.3 million miles away from the Earth.
However, the US space agency NASA has mentioned that this asteroid does not bring any threat to the Earth.
However, this asteroid has been classed as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid by NASA.
NASA has said that Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) are presently defined based on the parameters which measure the potential of the asteroid to make threatening and close approaches to the Earth. Specifically, all the asteroids with a minimum orbit intersection distance (MOID) of 0.05 au or less are considered to be Potentially Hazardous Asteroids.
It should also be taken into account that NASA has still not ruled out the possibility that it could cause regional damage to some part of the Earth entirely.
According to NASA, the US space agency, there is a one in 300,000 chance every year that a space rock that can cause regional damage will hit the Earth.
However, there are some plans which could help Earth against the potential strikes of the space rocks in the future.
NASA is currently studying an Asteroid named Bennu, where NASA’s spacecraft, OSIRIS-Rex arrived in 2018.
NASA fears that the space rock, which has the potential to wipe out an entire country on Earth, could hit the Earth within the coming 120 years, with the next close flyby in the year 2135.
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.
