It was expected that a large asteroid between 1.1 and 2.5 miles wide going to fly by Earth on April 29. But now NASA confirms that it’s not expected that it collides with our planet thankfully. If somehow it happens then the asteroid is big enough that it causes global effects; it was said by NASA when the asteroid discovered first.
The asteroid is known as 1998 OR2 (5276) and it was first discovered in 1998. This asteroid will going to pass within 3,908,701 miles of Earth and expected to move with a speed of 19,641 miles per hour.
This would going to happen on April 29, Wednesday, at 4:56 a.m. confirms by NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies. They are well known for tracking near-earth objects that could hit the Earth.
The asteroid was declared as a potentially dangerous object as it will pass near Earth’s orbit. But the good thing is that currently, it is not in the list of potential future Earth impact events by NASA. All such type of asteroids is monitored by Sentry System of NASA; that regularly scans the asteroid catalog for the potential of future effect with Earth. The current asteroid that is going to zip by the Earth is the largest but not largest ever.
The largest ever asteroid that passed by the Earth was 3122 Florence (1981 ET3), but luckily it missed colliding with us. It was passed on September 1, 2017, and it will expect to make another pass near Earth on September 2, 2057. The estimated size of an asteroid is between two and a half and five and a half miles broad.
NASA and other similar agencies have been working on a mission to study near-Earth asteroids and then eliminate the danger of collision. The research center of this mission is located in north-central Chile. The basic challenge in this mission is to know the size and orbit of the asteroids as it helps in predicting near-Earth objects.
There is a DART test by NASA which helps in preventing an asteroid from colliding with Earth. DART stands for Double Asteroid Redirection Test which is a planetary defense test.
DART will crash into a small natural satellite, Moonlet; of near Earth asteroid Didymos, which is similar in size to the asteroid that could cause a threat. The Hera mission; a European Space Agency will accurately measure the change in velocity of the larger asteroid and also examine the impact of DART on the Moonlet.