ISLAMABAD – The Earth has had many close encounters with asteroids thathave conveniently and thankfully missed colliding with our planet by just atiny distance.
Well, the space circuit and the cyberspace are buzzing with the news ofanother asteroid encounter that is set to happen on Friday, February 9.
The asteroid in question is estimated to measure somewhere between 15 and30 metres and will whizz past Earth quite safely, according to NASA.
The celestial object’s – designated asteroid 2018 CB – encounter with ourhome planet is scheduled to take place at around 5:30 pm EST (4:00 amSaturday IST), at a distance of about 64,000 kilometres, which is less thanone-fifth the distance of Earth to the Moon.
“Although 2018 CB is quite small, it might well be larger than the asteroidthat entered the atmosphere over Chelyabinsk, Russia, almost exactly fiveyears ago, in 2013,” said Paul Chodas of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratoryin Pasadena, California.
“Asteroids of this size do not often approach this close to our planet –maybe only once or twice a year,” Chodas said.
What is interesting to note is that the asteroid was discovered byastronomers at the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) in Arizona veryrecently – on February 4.
Another asteroid discovered by CSS on the same day passed by Earth onTuesday.
Asteroid 2018 CC was estimated to be between 15 and 30 metres in size.
Its close approach to Earth came at 3.10 p.m. EST at a distance of about184,000 kilometres, NASA said.