It’s the size of the Giza Pyramid of an asteroid that will approach Earth tomorrow, Sunday, July 25, Live Science reveals based on observations and calculations made by NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies.
The asteroid, named 2008 GO20, will approach from a distance of at least 4.5 million kilometers at a speed of about 29,000 kilometers per hour.
It is a very large asteroid: according to calculations by NASA itself, its diameter can range from 97 to 220 meters. Also in this case, as for all asteroids of a given payload that approach Earth at a distance of at least 7.5 million km, the piece of space rock was included in the category of “potentially hazardous asteroids” (potentially hazardous asteroids). ) .
As we always do, we also explain this time that inclusion in this particular category is just a classification method that NASA uses to distinguish the different asteroids that approach Earth based on their two main features: their size and how close they get. Inclusion in this category does not imply that it is a “dangerous” asteroid, at least with respect to this passage.
Just to understand that the minimum distance that this asteroid will reach from Earth is greater than 19.5 times the average distance between the Earth itself and the Moon.
As for an asteroid’s next steps, the discussion is a bit different: first of all, calculating its exact step-by-step trajectory is becoming increasingly difficult and that’s precisely why such an asteroid is included in the category of potentially dangerous asteroids: The future, also based on the gravity of the Earth during approach as well as other planets, may change and then become dangerous in the future.
The asteroid GO20 of 2008 actually approached Earth on August 4, 1901 (minimum distance of 1.3 million km). It also approached on July 31, 1935 (1.85 million km). The next step is expected to take place on July 24, 2034 when the distance from Earth will approach by 3.1 km.
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