A 150ft-long asteroid will skim past the Earth within the next two hours - closer than any other near-miss on record.
The huge chunk of rock - so big it is capable of wiping out London - will travel closer to the planet than many satellites.
But while it should be visible as a tiny dot of light crossing the sky to those using binoculars, scientists say there is no chance it will hit Earth.
There is a remote possibility that it could collide with one of more than 100 telecommunication and weather satellites in fixed orbits.
Experts have been closely tracking the asteroid, 2012 DA14, since its discovery a year ago.
They say it will reach its nearest point to Earth at around 7.30pm UK time on Friday.
It will stay at least 17,200 miles (27,681km) away - easily far enough to be safe - but very close in astronomical terms.
Astronomer and asteroid expert Dr Dan Brown, from Nottingham Trent University, said: "It will be too faint for the naked eye but with binoculars it should be visible if you know where to look. It will be low to the northeastern horizon and moving quite quickly.
"You'll be able to see it pass from the constellation Leo to roughly the Plough, more or less from anywhere in the UK, and it will be bright for about an hour."
DA14 belongs to a dangerous family of near-Earth objects (NEOs) that are small enough to be missed but large enough to cause serious damage.
It was detected in February last year by La Sagra Observatory in southern Spain as it fell under the spotlight of the Sun's rays.
Travelling at between 12,427mph (20,000kph) and 18,641mph (30,000kph) - around five miles a second, or eight times the speed of a rifle bullet - the asteroid will fly inside the orbits of high geostationary satellites.
Scientists at Nasa's Near-Earth Object programme at California's Jet Propulsion Laboratory estimate and object of this size makes a close approach like this every 40 years.
The asteroid, weighing 143,000 tons, would wipe out an area of 750 square miles if it hit the Earth's surface.
The European Space Agency said the asteroid is not linked to the meteorite hit in Russia earlier on Friday, with scientists calling it a coincidence.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Huge Asteroid To Skim Past Earth At 18,641mph
Dengan url
https://usiabelajarudin.blogspot.com/2013/02/huge-asteroid-to-skim-past-earth-at.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Huge Asteroid To Skim Past Earth At 18,641mph
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Huge Asteroid To Skim Past Earth At 18,641mph
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar