There is yet another near-Earth object (NEO) which is setting its eyes on the Earth! Recently, Earth has been witnessing a lot of rocky visitors nearly colliding, but eventually passing it by very closely. Just a couple of days ago, a 100-feet wide asteroid narrowly missed the Earth. But there is no time to relax as yet another dangerous asteroid is going to make its closest approach to the Earth today, August 12. According to NASA, this asteroid is around 53-feet wide, which might be smaller than the previous space assailant, but this one is going to come much closer. As a result, there is a big fear that this asteroid might cause some major destruction to the planet if it gets pulled in due to Earth's gravitational force. So, what's the likelihood of an asteroid strike? Read on to find out.
NASA has been collecting data on this asteroid ever since it was first discovered in March 2015. This information can be found on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) website as well as Small-Body database and Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) websites, all functioning under NASA. According to the information, the asteroid is named 2015 FF and it is going to come as close as 4.2 million kilometers to the Earth. The distance may seem too large to be worried about, but the asteroid is traveling at the speed of 33,012 kilometers per hour and will close the distance in mere days if its trajectory gets deviated for any reason.
According to the current prediction models, NASA believes that the asteroid is not likely to strike the Earth and will make a safe passage across the planet.
The asteroid is an interesting one. The last we saw it was in 2015 and after another quick trip in 2025, it will not come our way again till 2066. But
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