Huge asteroid came very CLOSE to Earth on Monday, says NASA
A giant building-sized space rock dubbed as Asteroid 467460 (2006 JF42) has safely passed Earth on Monday, May 9, 2022. It was just 3.5 million miles (5.7 million km) away or almost 14 times the Earth-moon distance from us. It was close enough for astronomers to study the asteroid using radar. According to data from the Center for Near Earth Object Studies at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the flyby of the asteroid is estimated at 1,247 feet to 2,822 feet across, or 380 to 860 meters. NASA has classified Asteroid 2006 JF42 as a "Potentially Hazardous Asteroid" due to its predicted close pass(es) with Earth.
As reported by www.space.com, Nasa’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office monitors the sky with telescopes and keeps a track of prominent upcoming flybys and the agency's Small-Body Database to gain more information about space rocks.
This is not the first time that a giant space rock has made its close pass to earth. A few days back, Asteroid 418135 (2008 AG33), passed by our planet on April 28. Earlier in February, 2022, cruise-ship-sized Asteroid 1999 VF22 safely passed Earth on February 22. Asteroid 1999 VF22 wasn't a newly discovered asteroid but it was found by Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona back on November 10, 1999 and hence, this is why it gets its name of 1999 VF22.
Asteroid 1999 VF22 was traveling at 56,158 miles per hour (25.1 km/s) relative to Earth. Although it passed our planet at a safe distance of 3.3 million miles, it was still classified as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid.
Scientists are becoming ever more adept at finding potentially hazardous asteroids with the advancements in Telescope technology. As per a previous report, more than 750,000 asteroids have been discovered to date out of
Read more on tech.hindustantimes.com
