(ORDO NEWS) — A huge asteroid will fly over the Earth next week.
Its length is 1 kilometer, which is about two and a half times the height of the Empire State Building, and it has been classified as a “potentially dangerous asteroid” due to its size and regular approach to our planet.
But don’t worry, this month’s visit will be very safe: the asteroid will fly 1.93 million from Earth – about 5.15 times farther than the Moon.
Calculations of its trajectory have an error of only 133 km, so there is no risk that we will encounter this asteroid anytime soon.
The closest approach will take place on January 18 at 21:51 UTC (16:51 Eastern Standard Time).
The space rock known as the asteroid (7482) 1994 PC1 was first discovered in 1994 by astronomer Robert McNaught at Siding Spring Observatory in Australia.
By tracing its path, scientists were able to find images of it up to September 1974, which is why we can be so sure of its orbital path.
In fact, asteroid (7482) 1994 PC1 has an orbital arc of only 47 years, which is the time between observations in our night sky.
The last encounter took place 89 years ago, on January 17, 1933, at a slightly closer (but still very safe) distance of 1.1 million kilometers. Next time it is expected to be at the same distance from Earth on January 18, 2105.
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