Asteroid, big as a house, set to whizz past Earth today! NASA issues this warning

tech.hindustantimes.com:

Another day, another asteroid. This has been the story of September so far. Now, another huge asteroid, which is as big as a house, is already on its way towards Earth, according to the data published by NASA's Centre for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS). The asteroid, named Asteroid 2022 RR1 was discovered on September 4, 2021. It is currently in the constellation Tucana.

NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office is responsible for monitoring the skies and keeping a watch on various Near-Earth Objects (NEOs). If any celestial object is at risk of Earth impact, it red flags and issues the alert. The Asteroid 2022 RR1 has also been red flagged by NASA. Although the asteroid is not heading for impact with Earth, it was still classified as a Potentially Hazardous Object due to the close proximity with which it will pass by Earth.

Asteroid 2022 RR1 will make its closest approach to Earth today, September 7, at a distance of just 732,000 kilometers. To put that into perspective, the Moon orbits the Earth at a distance of 384,400 kilometers from the surface of the planet. Asteroid 2022 RR1 is already on its way towards Earth travelling at a staggering speed of 29,412 kilometers per hour.

European Space Agency's Hera spacecraft will observe the impact caused by the collision of DART spacecraft and Dimorphos asteroid. The space agency has already launched its Hera spacecraft which will travel to the same asteroid to observe the impact. According to ESA's blog, the Hera spacecraft will fly to the asteroid to survey the aftermath of impact and gather information such as the size of impact crater, the mass of the asteroid and its make-up and internal structure.