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NASA issues asteroid warning after 30,500 km/h meteor narrowly misses Earth

NASA issues asteroid warning after 30,500 km/h meteor narrowly misses Earth

An asteroid the size of a skyscraper will narrowly miss Earth next week, NASA warned.

The space rock, designated 2024 ON, has been classified as “potentially dangerous” and is expected to race past our planet at a breathtaking speed of 31,547 kilometers per hour – about 25 times the speed of sound.


With a diameter of 220-480 m, the 2024 ON will dwarf landmarks such as The Shard or the Eiffel Tower – and would rank 14th on a list of the world's tallest skyscrapers.

But despite its size and speed, NASA insists that 2024 ON poses no threat to Earth or its inhabitants.

Fortunately, this space rock will remain twice as far away as the Moon at its closest approach to Earth

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An asteroid is classified as “potentially hazardous” if it comes within 0.05 astronomical units (7.4 million kilometers) of Earth and has a diameter of more than 140 meters.

Fortunately, this space rock will remain twice as far away as the Moon at its closest approach to Earth – but 2024 ON is still considered a near-Earth object (NEO) and is monitored by NASA.

The space agency's definition is: “NEOs are comets and asteroids that have been pushed by the gravitational attraction of neighboring planets into orbits that allow them to come close to Earth.”

It goes on to explain in detail that comets form in the cold outer planetary systems, while rockier asteroids form in the warmer inner solar system between Mars and Jupiter.

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The approaching space chunk will be too small to observe with the naked eye in the night sky

P.A.

Even at its estimated maximum size, 2024 ON is still dwarfed by the largest known asteroid, Ceres, which has a diameter of 580 miles.

And despite its impressive size, the approaching space boulder will be too small to observe with the naked eye or even an average telescope.

Asteroids are the remnants of previous collisions in the solar system. Due to the strong gravitational forces in space, they move at high speed and orbit the sun in elongated orbits while rotating irregularly.

NASA's online tracker lists 2024 ON as one of the upcoming approaches, underscoring the agency's vigilance in monitoring potential threats from space.

The scientific interest in these celestial bodies stems from their status as relatively unchanged remnants of the solar system's formation process, which dates back about 4.6 billion years.

While 2024 ON's approach may seem worrying, it is important to note that such events are not uncommon.

NASA continuously tracks and studies these objects to better understand our cosmic neighborhood and assess potential risks to our planet.

The agency's asteroid detection and monitoring efforts play a critical role in planetary defense strategies and ensure Earth's safety from potential threats from space.

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