Two Asteroids, the size of an airplane, to fly by close to Earth on September 23

Many a times immoral asteroids have been an object of fear and trepidation for people on Earth. Hence, when NASA was formed in 1952, watching over and tracking movement of Asteroids was one of its major goals. In keeping with that goal, today, NASA is tracking course of several hundreds of asteroids that could potentially be hazardous to human life on Earth. 

ncy has deployed specific Asteroid watching satellites and maintains a record of ir course and with help of NASA Asteroid watch data on its official website. asteroid watching widget on NASA’s JPL website is showing two asteroids which are scheduled flyby close to Earth on Wednesday, September 23. Here is what we kw about Asteroids 2020 RE8 & 2020 RA2.

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How close will Asteroids come to Earth?

According to a report on NASA’s JPL website, at its closest approach, Asteroid RA2 will be 0.0471 astromical units away from Earth. In miles, this means rock will be only 4,390,000 miles away from Earth’s surface. While this might t seem like a lot, in astromical terms this distance is pretty close. Asteroid RE8 at its closest approach will only be 0.00682783 au away from Earth. Which means it will be only 4,310,000 miles away.

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When were se Asteroids first observed?

NASA has stated that Asteroid RE8 was first observed on September 14, 2020, while 2020 RA2 was first seen on August 15, 2020. 2020 RA2 has been classified in Amor group of Asteroids as it is Near-Earth Object (NEO).  Amor asteroids are a group of near-Earth asteroids which were named after arche object 1221 Amor. 2020 RE8 has been classified among Apollo group of asteroids.

y are a bunch of near-Earth asteroids named after 1862 Apollo asteroid. asteroid was discovered by German astromer Karl Reinmuth in 1930s. Both se asteroids are size of an aeroplane. Asteroid 2020 RE8 is 93 feet. Asteroid RA2 is 68 feet.

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What time will Asteroids approach close to Earth?

According to NASA, 2020 RE8 will be closest to Earth at 2:24 UTC. This is 7:24 pm Tuesday, Pacific Time (PT). While 2020 RA2 will be closest to Earth at 17:32 UTC which is 10:32 am Wednesday, Pacific Time (PT). 

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