WASHINGTON: A space rock with an estimated size between 45 and 110 feet will be passing by our planet at a speed of about 7200 kmph on Tuesday. Named asteroid 2023 HG1, it will pass the Earth from a safe distance of about 4.16 million km.
Detected on March 26 this year, this asteroid was classified under the Apollo group of near-Earth objects. This object orbits the sun once every 402 days reaching a maximum distance of 173 million kilometres and a minimum of 145 million kilometres.
The trajectory of Asteroid 2023 HG1 passed about 4.16 million kilometres from the earth’s position. This point will be reached by the asteroid on May 9 this year. NASA had earlier mentioned that there is no need to panic as this distance is over 10 times the distance between the Earth and the moon. The next pass-by of the asteroid will be later this year on October 30. But the distance will be around 19.09 kilometres from the planet.
The planet has had several close encounters in the past regarding asteroids but hardly any in the history of human civilisation. One such major asteroid is known to have eliminated the dinosaurs from the face of the planet. It also wiped out a huge variety of plant life because of the impact.
In order to prevent anything like that in the near future, NASA has a dedicated mission in play. Named the Double Asteroid Redirection Test or DART, this mission aims to protect the planet from any asteroid that may be on a collision course with the planet. With a properly timed and aimed projectile aimed at any asteroid, it can be deflected enough to miss the planet using the kinetic impactor technique. But this technique has never been tested in real-life scenarios to know its actual impact.
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