Asteroids often present minimal to no hazards to the Earth and are a regular feature of outer space. Are there any of the asteroids currently passing Earth striking the planet? Honestly, that’s hard to say. Asteroid 2022 QB22 (180 feet wide, the size of an airplane), is the biggest asteroid to hit the earth. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has warned that August 28 could mark the closest point today.
Will an Asteroid Hit Earth in 2022?
NASA estimates that the NEO 2022 QP3 asteroid will fly near Earth today at 9:55 pm UTC or 3:25 am IST. This asteroid, which would be 100 feet wide, could pass by the Earth by 5.51 million km. The asteroid 2022 RQ is speeding toward Earth at an astonishing 49,536 miles per hour and will simply skip our planet. However, if the asteroid decides to modify its course, we may be in serious peril, although this is pretty doubtful. As per NASA, it will still get as close to Earth as possible, at 3.7 million kilometers.
The asteroid has reportedly been warned by the US space company’s Planetary Defence Coordination Office as a “potentially dangerous object” because of its approach to Earth. The distance to the Moon is 19.5 times greater. CNEOS has verified the asteroid’s velocity of 7.93 km/s. It happened after an asteroid with a diameter of 100 feet, NEO 2022 QQ4, flew by Earth on Saturday. When it came the nearest to Earth, it was 5.93 million kilometers away. The enormous asteroid was traveling at a speed of 7.23 km/s, according to CNEOS.
The enormous asteroid, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is 213 meters wide, making it larger than just the Statue of Unity in Gujarat, India, the largest statue in the world. As a point of comparison, the Statue of Unity is 182 meters tall. Huge space rocks called asteroids revolve around the Sun. However, asteroids are occasionally capable of changing their trajectory and now even crash with them due to the planet’s gravitational influence.
When is the Next Asteroid Predicted to Hit the Earth?
In order to defend the biggest asteroid to hit earth, the US space agency would be launching a spacecraft right into an asteroid’s core to deflect it from its original path. At least 90% of NEOs that are 140 metres or larger are currently being tracked and characterised by NASA’s NEO Observations Program. The NEOWISE Project, which uses NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer as a survey telescope to search the sky for Near-Earth Objects, assists in the observation of the majority of asteroids.
Is an Asteroid Going to Hit Earth?
Though the asteroid could hit Earth with a significant buffer space of 3.2 million miles, a slight deviation from its path – which can be caused by many factors – can make it change its course and collide with the planet within seconds.
Since hazardous and potentially hazardous asteroids are not uncommon in outer space, NASA has already launched its Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission (DART) to act as a defence mechanism which can defend the planet from such rogue objects from outer space. Meanwhile, scientists and researchers have said that there is essentially nothing to worry about. The biggest asteroid to hit earth is very unlikely to make any sort of contact with Earth, which can cause damage to the planet.
