Earth has been in the firing line of various space phenomena these past couple of weeks including solar storms and asteroids. On the planet itself hurricanes have been relentless causing serious damage. While asteroids have not caused any damage, but they have been a constant threat as more than 40 asteroids have flown by Earth at very close quarters in the last month alone. Now, NASA has warned that another asteroid, a 92-foot monster, is on its way and it could be a potential planet-killer. Shockingly, it was discovered 2 days ago on October 2!
NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office is responsible for monitoring the skies and keeping a watch on various Near-Earth Objects (NEOs). If any NEO is at risk of Earth impact, NASA red flags it and issues an alert. The same organisation has issued an alert about an asteroid named Asteroid 2022 TF which is headed straight for Earth today, October 4. According to NASA, the 93-foot wide asteroid will make its closest approach to the planet today at a distance of just 2.65 million kilometers. It is hurtling towards Earth at a speed of 37008 kilometers per hour.
According to the-sky.org, the Asteroid 2022 TF belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids. This asteroid takes 1110 days to complete one trip around the Sun during which its maximum distance from the Sun is 476 million kilometers and nearest distance is 152 million kilometers.
A team of international researchers identified the impact sites of asteroids using CSI crime solving techniques. According to the research, only 30 percent of Holocene asteroid impact craters have been identified in the last 11,650 years. The researchers used charcoal samples from crater sites to identify the asteroid impact.
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