Massive 43-Mtr asteroid coming VERY CLOSE to Earth on October 20
A giant 43-mtr-sized space rock named Asteroid 2022 TS2 will make a close pass to Earth on October 20, 2022. The asteroid will be closest to earth at 07:27 UTC. It will be just 2.28 million kms away. Despite this safe distance, it is close enough for astronomers to study the asteroid using radar. As reported by earthsky.org, Asteroid 2022 TS2 will be traveling at a speed of 14 km/s relative to Earth. The space rock is currently on the southeast in the constellation of Eridanus at an altitude of 13 degrees above the horizon.
According to Nasa, Asteroid 2022 TS2 is nearly 43 meters in diameter. It orbits the sun every 337 days. Its farthest point from the Sun is 211 million kilometers, and the perihelion i.e, the nearest point to the Sun is 73 million kilometers. The distance of the Space rock from Earth is currently 3.75 million kilometers, equivalent to 0.03 astronomical units.
It will make its next close approach to our planet on October 20, 2034 from a distance of 2.68 million kilometers.
Nasa detects the orbital positions of the near-Earth objects from the database of the Minor Planet Center, while most of the asteroid-tracking data is collected by NASA-funded observatories - Pan-STARRS, the Catalina Sky Survey, NASA's NEOWISE mission and others. Nasa's NEOWISE uses infrared to detect and characterize asteroids and comets. Since December 2013, it has discovered 72 near-Earth objects and characterized 439 others. Near-Earth objects, or NEOs are detected by comparing multiple images, taken several minutes apart, of the same region of the sky.
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