Asteroid Up to 1.4 Kilometers Long Flew by Close to Earth
A huge asteroid measuring more than 400 meters wide and between 650 meters to 1.4 kilometers long flew by close to Earth on Wednesday, April 19.
The distance between the planet and the asteroid when the two are closest to each other will be around 1.8 million kilometers, Reuters quoted the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The celestial body which was christened 2014 JO25 after being discovered three years ago, will be the largest asteroid to fly this close to the earth since 2004. The asteroid is about 400 meters wide, and between 650 meters to 1.4 kilometers and was expected to fly by safely, according to Telegraph.
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The 2014 JO25 is twice as reflective as the moon and was expected to be visible to Stargazers on Wednesday night. An asteroid of that size impacting the Earth will be an immense catastrophe — but there's no need to panic since there's no chance of collision, according to Asteroid Watch. While there's no possibility for the asteroid to collide with our planet, this was a very close for comfort approach by an asteroid of this size.
Dr. James Carvin, of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, remarked that these ultra-rare encounters are special opportunities to train their observatories and tools to look at them. Asteroids can provide clues about the secrets of the Solar System and its past. To that end, NASA plans to do a lot more than just look at the asteroids, as made apparent by the Osiris Rex space mission that aims to collect a sample from an asteroid to bring back for study.
The 2014 JO25 hasn't come this close to Earth in 400 years and won't be back again to fly this close for perhaps another five centuries. For asteroid watchers, the next giant asteroid will fly close in 2027 when asteroid 1999 AN10 passes by the Earth at about similar proximity.
