A huge asteroid the size of a BUS will come extremely close to Earth today – and astronomers discovered it just three DAYS ago
- The asteroid, named 2022 NF, is between 5.4 and 12 meters in diameter
- It will approach within 54,843.9 miles of our planet at around 14:45 BST
- Experts only discovered the asteroid on July 4 using telescopes in Hawaii
By Shivali The best of Mailonline
Posted: 10:38, July 7, 2022 | Updated: 10:39 a.m. July 7, 2022
A huge asteroid the size of a London bus will come extremely close to Earth today, despite only being discovered a few days ago.
The asteroid, named 2022 NF, will approach within 54,843.9 miles of our planet at around 14:45 BST, according to NASA.
To put that in perspective, that’s just over a quarter of the distance of the Moon at its closest point to Earth, which is 225,623 miles.
Fortunately, NASA’s calculations show that the huge space rock will safely pass our planet – although the space agency has not written off the chances of an asteroid collision in the near future.
The asteroid, named 2022 NF, will approach within 54,843.9 miles of our planet at around 14:45 BST, according to NASA (stock image)
What is a “potentially hazardous” asteroid?
A potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA) is an asteroid whose orbit is closer than 0.05AU (about 7.5 million km) to Earth.
It is also at least 100 meters (300 ft) in diameter.
The International Astronomical Union claims there are about 1,500 potentially dangerous asteroids.
Although they do not yet pose a risk to Earth, asteroids this large have the potential to wreak havoc if they land on our planet, especially in densely populated areas.
It is estimated that a human hits the Earth once every 200-300 years.
2022 NF was discovered using data from the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS), a camera and telescope system based in Hawaii.
Although it made its closest approach to Earth today, amazingly the asteroid was not identified until July 4th.
The measurements show the asteroid to be between 17.7 and 39.3 feet (5.4 and 12 meters) in diameter.
At the top end of this estimate, the 2022 NF is roughly the same size as the original Routemaster London bus!
During its close approach, the asteroid will travel at a breakneck speed of 24,606 mph—about 12 times the speed of a bullet.
Although the chance of this asteroid hitting Earth is extremely small, NASA is not writing off the chances of an asteroid impact in the near future.
NASA discovers about 30 new “near-Earth objects” (NEOs) every week, and at the start of 2019 it has discovered a total of more than 19,000 objects.
However, the space agency cautioned that its NEO catalog is not complete, meaning an unforeseen impact could occur “at any time.”
NASA explained: “Experts estimate that an impact of an object the size of the one that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2013 – measuring approximately 55 feet (17 meters) – happens once or twice a century.
2022 NF was discovered using data from the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS), a camera and telescope system based in Hawaii
“Impacts on larger objects are expected to be much less frequent (on a scale of centuries to millennia).
“However, given the current incompleteness of the NEO catalog, an unforeseen impact – like the Chelyabinsk event – could happen at any time.”
To prepare for such an impact, NASA recently launched its first “planetary defense” spacecraft to deflect an asteroid 6.8 million miles from Earth.
The US$325m (£240m) Twin Asteroid Redirect Test (DART) mission launches in November 2021 and will take 10 months to complete its journey of almost seven million miles into deep space.
The probe will crash into the small asteroid Dimorphos, which is orbiting a larger asteroid called Didymos at 15,000 miles per hour (24,100 km/h) in September 2022.
When the 1,210-pound spacecraft hits Dimorphos, the plan is for it to change the speed of the “moon jet” by a fraction of a percent, echoing the plot of the Bruce Willis movie Armageddon.
Although the 525-foot-wide space rock poses no danger to Earth, NASA wants to measure the altered orbit of the asteroid caused by the collision.
This demonstration of “planetary defense” will inform future missions that could one day save Earth from a deadly asteroid strike.
WHAT IS THE NASA DART MISSION?
DART will be the world’s first planetary defense test mission.
It is headed for the small lunar asteroid Dimorphos, which orbits a larger asteroid moon called Didymos.
When it gets there, it will deliberately bump into the asteroid to slightly alter its orbit.
While none of the asteroids pose a threat to Earth, DART’s kinetic impact will prove that a spacecraft can autonomously navigate to a target asteroid and strike it kinetically.
Then, using ground-based telescopes to measure the impact’s effects on the asteroid system, the mission will improve modeling and forecasting capabilities to help us better prepare for an actual asteroid threat, should one ever be detected.
DART will arrive at Dimorphos in October 2022, where it will deliberately crash into the asteroid at a speed of 15,000 miles per hour. This collision will change the speed of Dimorphos in its orbit around Didymos by a fraction of one percent, changing the orbital period by several minutes
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