![]() ![]() ![]() This week will mark the closest the asteroid gets to Earth in the next 172 years, NASA projects. Past near-Earth encounters: Asteroid bigger than any building in the world flies past Earthįalse alarm: 230-foot wide asteroid initially expected to hit Earth in 2023 was false alarmĭiscovered in 1989 by astronomer Eleanor Helin at the Palomar Observatory in Southern California, the asteroid is labeled "potentially hazardous" because it is an Apollo asteroid, meaning it crosses Earth's orbit. The Virtual Telescope Project photographed asteroid 1998 JA on May 18. At this speed, the asteroid could travel around the planet Earth in 45 minutes," Marchis said. "To provide some context, that is 17 times the speed of a bullet through the air. When 1989 JA makes its closest approach to Earth on Friday, it will be 2.5 million miles away, or about 10 times the distance to the moon and the closest it has ever been to Earth.įranck Marchis, chief scientific officer telescope company Unistellar and senior planetary astronomer at the SETI Institute, told USA TODAY the asteroid is traveling about 30,000 mph. NASA says there are nearly 29,000 near-Earth asteroids in space, but 1989 JA is one of 878 that are at least 3,280 feet wide.Īn asteroid that large could cause catastrophe on Earth, but there is no need to worry. For reference, the asteroid is twice the size of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest building in the world. The asteroid, named 1989 JA, is estimated to be 1.1 miles long, or 5,905 feet, according to NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies. A "potentially hazardous" asteroid measuring more than a mile long will zoom past Earth this week, the largest asteroid expected to get relatively close to our planet in 2022. ![]()
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