A “potentially hazardous” asteroid greater than twice the height of the Empire State Building will make an in depth encounter with Earth in January – after which received’t make its subsequent go to for an additional 200 years.
The house rock, known as (7482) 1994 PC1, is anticipated to whiz by our planet at a “close approach” distance of 0.013 astronomical models on Jan. 18, Newsweek reported, citing NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies.
But that interprets to a fairly snug distance of about 1.2 million miles, which is greater than 5 instances as removed from Earth because the moon, in accordance to the magazine.
The asteroid is not any slouch, although, at round 3,280 ft in diameter – roughly two and a half instances the height of the enduring Big Apple skyscraper.
An asteroid of this dimension strikes Earth about each 600,000 years, according to EarthSky.
It will zoom by at about 44,000 mph earlier than venturing off into one other photo voltaic orbit and received’t be again till 2105, in accordance to the house company.
The giant body was found on Aug. 9, 1994 – therefore its designation – by Robert McNaught on the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia, EarthSky reported.
Astronomers additionally discovered the asteroid in earlier pictures that date again to September 1974.
Amateur sky watchers shall be in a position to spot (7482) 1994 PC1 about 4:50 p.m. EST on Jan. 18. It will seem as some extent of sunshine passing in entrance of background stars through the night.
The rock will shine at round magnitude 10 — a good goal for observers utilizing a 6-inch or bigger telescope.
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