Asteroid 12 times faster than a bullet will ‘graze’ the Earth this April 28: Does it represent a danger

Potentially dangerous’ asteroid twice the size of the Empire State Building will skim Earth on Thursday, NASA says

ORA gigantic “potentially dangerous” asteroid that may be twice the size of the Empire State Building is set to pass close to Earth on Thursday ( April 28), according to NASA

The asteroid, named 418135 (2008 AG33), has an estimated diameter between 350 and 780 meters (1,150 and 2,560 feet) and will enter Earth’s orbit at a breakneck speed of 37,400 km/h (23,300 mph). Fortunately, the asteroid is expected to skim our planet without any risk of impact.

At its closest point, the asteroid, which is traveling at more than 30 times the speed of sound, will come within about 3.2 million kilometers (2 million miles) of Earth, which is about eight times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon. This may sound like a huge gap, but by cosmic standards, it’s actually a stone’s throw away

NASA tags near-Earth objects
NASA marks any space object that is within 193 million kilometers (120 million miles) of Earth as a ” near-Earth object” and any fast-moving object within 7.5 million kilometers (4.65 million miles) as “potentially dangerous”. Once objects are tagged, astronomers closely monitor them, looking for any deviations from their predicted path that could put them on a collision course with Earth.

The asteroid was discovered in 2008
The incoming space rock was first discovered on Jan. 12, 2008, by asteroid surveyors at the Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter observatory in Arizona and last passed by Earth on March 1, 2015, according to the Center for Object Studies. Near Earth (CNEOS) from NASA. The asteroid passes by our planet approximately every seven years, with the next close flyby expected to occur on May 25, 2029.

Thursday’s asteroid may not even be the biggest space rock to pass us in the next few weeks. That title will likely go to 467460 (2006 JF42), which has an estimated diameter between 1,247 and 2,822 feet (380 to 860 m) and will be traveling at about 25,300 mph (40,700 km/h) when it passes us on May 9. 2022.