NASA warning! Hazardous asteroid hurtling towards Earth today; will it impact?
NASA expects at least 5 dangerous asteroids to fly past Earth this week. Most asteroids are found in a ring between the orbit of Mars and Jupiter called the Asteroid Belt. These celestial objects are the remains of the period during which our solar system formed, over 4.6 billion years ago. Asteroids regularly fly past Earth at safe distances although NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office still classifies them as Potentially Hazardous Objects due to their close proximity with Earth with the help of its WISE telescope.
NASA has alerted that at least 5 asteroids are expected to make a close approach with Earth this week. Know more about one of these asteroids, named Asteroid 2022 QJ50, which is set to fly past Earth closely today.
NASA has warned that a gigantic 110 feet wide asteroid, named Asteroid 2022 QJ50 is hurtling towards Earth. The asteroid is set to make its closest approach to Earth today, September 19, at a distance of 4.2 million kilometers. The asteroid is already on its way towards Earth travelling at a staggering speed of 36,684 kilometers per hour.
Asteroid 2022 QJ50 is a bit different from other asteroids that have made close approaches with Earth recently as it belongs to the Aten group of asteroids. The asteroid takes 334 days to complete one orbit around the Sun. During this orbit, the asteroid's maximum distance from the Sun is 190 million kilometers while it comes as close as 91 million kilometers at its nearest point.
Most of the asteroids are observed with the help of the NEOWISE Project which repurposed NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer to work as a survey telescope and scan the sky for Near-Earth Objects. NASA then uses its ground-based radar to gather precise data about the
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