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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Asteroid 2019 OR1 to Make Close Approach towards Earth Today

The asteroid is already travelling at an incredible speed of 48,168 km/hr toward Earth

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Russell Chattaraj
Russell Chattaraj
Mechanical engineering graduate, writes about science, technology and sports, teaching physics and mathematics, also played cricket professionally and passionate about bodybuilding.

UNITED STATES: Asteroids appear to be resuming their perilously close approaches to Earth. NASA keeps track of these asteroids by analysing data from observatories and telescopes such as Pan-STARRS, the Catalina Sky Survey, and the NEOWISE telescope.

While the majority of this apparatus is anchored to the ground, some of it is located in the air.

The Planetary Defense Coordination Office of NASA has issued alerts for the asteroid 2019 OR1.

Trajectory of the Asteroid 2019 OR1. Photo Credit: spacereference.org/Judy Mou and Ian Webster

On November 21, the 770-foot asteroid is expected to make a close approach to Earth at a distance of 4.3 million kilometres.

The asteroid is already travelling at an incredible speed of 48,168 km/h towards the Earth.

Although it is not expected that this asteroid will collide with Earth, even a slight deviation in its path caused by contact with the planet’s gravitational field might cause catastrophic changes in its course.

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Simulation shows how close to earth the Asteroid is. Photo Credit: spacereference.org/Judy Mou and Ian Webster

The Planetary Science Division at NASA’s headquarters office in Washington has established a Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO), which it is in charge of.

The PDCO is responsible for the timely identification of potentially hazardous objects (PHOS), such as asteroids and comets, whose trajectories are predicted to bring them within 0.05 astronomical units (5 million miles or 8 million kilometres) of Earth.

The DART project, which used orbit to combat such threats, has recently been completed by NASA.

NASA’s Dart project set out to determine whether it was possible to change an asteroid’s trajectory. With the success of this test, the world made its first progress in creating the technology required to prevent any huge asteroid from colliding with Earth.

Also Read: NASA’s Perseverance Rover Investigates Yori Pass to Look for Signs of Prehistoric Life

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Author

  • Russell Chattaraj

    Mechanical engineering graduate, writes about science, technology and sports, teaching physics and mathematics, also played cricket professionally and passionate about bodybuilding.

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