Asteroid with a diameter of 830 m is about to pass by Earth

According to Newsweek, asteroid 488453 (1994 XD) with the size of the Empire State building will fly past our Earth on June 12.

The diameter of asteroid 488453 (1994 XD) is estimated to be 370 - 830 m, according to data from NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS). Compared to it, the Empire State Building in the US is 381 m tall.

The asteroid is expected to pass by Earth at a distance of 0.02114 AU (AU is the distance between Earth and the Sun), equivalent to 3.16 million km. For comparison, the Moon is about 384,633 km from Earth. Asteroid 488453 (1994 XD) will pass by Earth at a speed of 77,248 km/h.

Simulation of an asteroid hurtling towards Earth. (Illustration: News.com.au)

Most asteroids in the inner Solar System are planetary fragments that lie in the belt between Mars and Jupiter. Occasionally, Jupiter's gravity pushes some asteroids into the inner ring of the system, passing by planets like Earth.

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) estimates that there are more than 1.1 million asteroids in the solar system.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Small-Body database shows that 488453 (1994 XD) orbits the Sun every 3.6 years, but does not come very close to Earth.

Asteroids that fly within 48 million kilometers of Earth are classified as "near-Earth objects" (NEOs). To date, NASA has discovered 31,000 NEOs. NEOs that fly within 7.4 million kilometers of Earth's orbit and are larger than 140 meters are classified as potentially hazardous. Due to its size and distance from Earth, 488453 (1994 XD) is also in this group along with 2,300 other asteroids.

However, no asteroid is likely to collide with Earth in the next 100 years, according to NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office. But if an asteroid as large as 488453 (1994 XD) were to hit Earth, the consequences would be dire. A 100-200 meter-wide asteroid could cause a regional disaster, wiping out a small country and affecting the global economy .

Tra Khanh (Source: Newsweek)

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