In 2013, a 65-feet asteroid exploded 18 miles from Earth's surface above Russia, causing a shockwave that affected six cities, injured 1,500 people, and damaged 7,000 buildings. Two new asteroids will be making a close approach to the planet at a distance not less than 1.7 million miles (2.8 kilometers) over the weekend.
Fortunately, it is a safe distance that will not cause any harm to Earth. NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) has been tracking the two building-sized asteroids even though their flybys will happen at a safe distance.
Asteroids 2013 CU83 and 2016 CZ31 Flybys to Earth
The first of the two asteroids dubbed 2016 CZ31 will fly by at 7 PM ET (23:00 GMT) on Friday, zooming at an estimated speed of 34,560 miles per hour (55,618 kilometers), according to NASA. It travels 17 times faster than a rifle bullet and one-fifth the speed of a lightning bolt.
Live Science reported that the asteroid is estimated to be about 400 feet (122 meters) across or equivalent to the size of a 40-story building. Luckily, it will miss Earth during its flyby as it passes by at seven times the distance between Earth and the Moon. NASA said that this space rock regularly makes a close flyby to the planet every few years and the next one is calculated to be on January 2028.
The second asteroid called 2013 CU83, approximately 600 feet (83 meters) will pass by on Saturday. Although it is larger, it will also be at a greater distance from Earth and will pass by at 4.32 million miles (6.96 million kilometers) or about 18 times the average distance off Earth to the Moon.
The colossal asteroid on Saturday is as tall as the iconic Eiffel Tower and will travel at a speed of 13, 153 miles per hour (21, 168 kilometers per hour) at 7:37 P< ET (23:37 GMT).
Both flybys of these two asteroids are significantly farther than asteroid 2022 NF that passed by earlier this month. The asteroid came close to Earth within 56,000 miles (90,000 kilometers), which is 23% closer than the average distance between Earth and the Moon.
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Monitoring Near Earth Objects
NASA's CNEOS has been continually monitoring space objects near Earth, especially those that happen regularly and have the potential of causing damage to the planet. For now, most of the 29,000 asteroids are too small to pose any risk and the recent asteroid 2022 EB5 disintegrated upon entering Earth's atmosphere on March 11, 2022, before it could cause any damage.
Moreover, Popular Mechanics reported that the space agency's Scout Impact hazard assessment system could predict collisions based on the calculated trajectory and detect them before they could hit Earth's atmosphere.
As the technology becomes more advanced and sensitive, researchers expect it to detect more space objects that might enter the atmosphere. The larger the asteroid, the higher the chance for them to detect and track the trajectories of near-Earth objects, which gives scientists ample time to prepare for any potential impact.
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