Published 15:25 IST, February 15th 2020
Asteroid larger than world's tallest building sails past Earth: NASA
A massive asteroid that is bigger than the world's tallest building is sailed past the Earth on February 14, according to NASA and is dubbed as 163373 2002 PZ.
- Science News
- 3 min read
A massive asteroid that is bigger than the world's tallest building sail past the Earth on February 15, according to NASA. The giant rock dubbed 163373 (2002 PZ39) measuring between 1,400 and 3,200 feet in diameter is based on the object's magnitude, as per the data from the space agency's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS). The scientists suggested that the asteroid would stand higher than Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai, which is the tallest structure on Earth. 2002 PZ39 is about to make its close approach at 11:05am Universal Time (6:05 am EST) on February 15.
Asteroid to cross at speed of 34,000 miles/hour
It will zoom past the Earth at a distance of around 3.6 million miles i.e. 15 times the distance between the Earth and the moon. The asteroid is about to cross at a speed of nearly 34,000 miles per hour which is about 20 times as fast as an F-16 jet fighter flying at maximum velocity. The scientists said that there is no chance that it will strike the planet. In addition, the asteroid is defined as a "potentially hazardous" near-Earth object (NEO) by the CNEOS.
Earlier, a 2,000 feet wide asteroid fly past the earth's surface with a speed of 27,000 mph in the early hours of December 26. The group of scientists monitored the movement of the massive asteroid known as '310442 (2000 CH59)'. They expected that the heavenly mass will be the closest to the earth on December 26 at 7:54 am. The space agency's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) has studied the object and measured the diameter of the object to be approximately 2,034 feet. Paul Chodas, director of CNEOS said that these asteroids may evolve for a long period of time into Earth-crossing orbits. It is officially termed as 'near-Earth object' when any comet or asteroid with a path around the sun takes it within 121 million miles of the star and 30 million miles of our orbit.
Updated 15:25 IST, February 15th 2020