Published 20:01 IST, September 2nd 2020
2011 ES4 Asteroid had its closest approach to Earth's surface on September 1
On September 1, an asteroid called 2011 ES4 had its closest encounter with our planet, at a distance far closer than the moon. Read on for all the details.
An asteroid called 2011 ES4 recently had a very close encounter with Earth as it skimmed past our planet at a distance far closer than the moon. The 2011 ES4 is an Apollo asteroid that was first spotted by researchers back in 2011 and it passes by our planet every nine years. The asteroid also had its closest approach to Earth in 2011 on March 13. With its earlier close approach, the asteroid was visible from planet Earth for up to four days.
The 2011 ES4 Asteroid had an extremely close approach to Earth on September 1 at around 12:12 PM Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). Space Agency NASA explained that the asteroid’s close approach to Earth is in the sense of an astronomical scale. It had also revealed that the ES4 2011 would not pose any kind of harm as there was no risk of it hitting the planet.
Was 2011 ES4 visible?
The 2011 ES4 Asteroid in September 2020 had a very close approach to Earth's surface and was also visible from the planet. According to NASA Asteroid Watch's tweet, the asteroid safely zoomed past the planet at a distance of atleast 45,000 miles, which is a very close distance. It was travelling at around 18,253 miles per hour (29,375 km) when it skimmed past Earth. Also, the recent approach to the planet was much closer than the previous one.
The 2011 ES4 Asteroid’s estimated diameter is between 22 to 49 meters. NASA has already included this asteroid on its Center for NEO Studies' database of Close Approaches.
It also states that the Near-Earth Objects include asteroids and comets that are prodded through the gravitational attraction of the adjacent spheres into the orbit of the sun. This is what allows both the asteroids and comets to fly near planet Earth. The 2011 ES4 has also been called a potentially dangerous asteroid by the space agency, however, it was realised that it did not pose any kind of threat due to its diameter which is considerably small in size.
Promo image credits: NASA
Updated 20:01 IST, September 2nd 2020