According to NASA, an asteroid about 1.06 km wide will pass or crash into Earth on January 18. Seems like the world’s “hotspots” are nothing compared to this.
First discovered by Australian astronomer Robert McNaught in 1994, the “space rock” Flyby is classified as a “potentially hazardous asteroid” due to its size and orbit.
It will pass within 1.2 million miles of our planet, moving at 47,344 miles per hour, according to NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies, which tracks potentially hazardous comets and asteroids that could collide with our planet, the above distance is quite close when calculating the distance of Earth and Mars alone is about 342 million km.
Scientists say that – in the worst-case scenario – the asteroid will hit Earth at supersonic speeds – that is, over 1,300km/h.
Our Earth regularly faces the risk of collision with dozens of large and small asteroids each year, and scientists have researched many technologies to shoot down or redirect asteroids that threaten the Earth. soil.
Will there be mass destruction on Earth?
Due to friction with the atmosphere, one-third of its mass will ignite, but will still produce an explosion equivalent to 300 thermonuclear bombs, destroying all objects within a radius of 80 km and will create a hole with a diameter of about 20 km, a depth of nearly 2 km.
That’s not to mention the amount of ash emitted by the explosion into the atmosphere – blocking the sun for many months will cause temperatures in some areas to drop, severely affecting the environment and ecosystems.
In the event that Flyby plunges into the sea, it will create terrible tsunamis that will kill hundreds of millions of people.
If the aforementioned scenario does not happen because Nobody expects 7482 (1994 PC1) to hit Earth, but it’s the closest the asteroid will come for the next two centuries, according to NASA projections.
Astronomy enthusiasts will be able to observe Flyby as it flies by using small commercial telescopes.
The EarthSky.org website will also provide more details on the expected orbit of this “small rock” as it passes our planet due to its enormous size and proximity.