Published 19:09 IST, October 15th 2020
3 asteroids are heading towards Earth; NASA reveals how close the approach will be
3 Asteroids are approaching closer to Earth they will pass Earth on October 16. How close are they? Read more to find out what NASA says.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory under NASA has revealed that three objects are nearing our planet Earth in one of the close approaches of the month. These approaches are much closer than we have ever expected. NASA uses its Asteroid Watch Widget to track this upcoming near approach and determines the distance.
The next 3 approaches are within the 2.29 million miles distance
Image ~ Shutterstock
According to NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory at California Institute of Technology, 3 objects are going to pass through Earth within the 2.29 million miles distance. The average distance between Earth and the moon is about 239,000 miles i.e. 385,000 kilometres. In the image below, one can see the date of closest approach, the approximate size of the objects and the distance of their path from Earth.
Image ~ JPL Asteroid Watch Widget
On October 16, three objects are known as 2020 TE2, 2020 TQ3 and 2020 TH3 will pass through us at the distance of 1,520,000 miles, 2,290,000 miles and 1,180,000 miles respectively. The size of these October 16 objects are determined to be approximately 59 ft, 56 ft and 59 ft respectively.
The object approaching on October 17 is known as 2020 TG which is of the approximate size of 80 ft and it will be passing at the distance of 3,990,000 miles. The other near approach is going to happen on October 17 itself and the object's name is 2020 TX4. It is of an approximate size of 50 ft.
What is the Asteroid Watch Widget?
Image ~ Shutterstock
According to the official site of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Asteroid Watch Widget is a machine that tracks asteroids and comets that will make relatively close approaches to Earth. The Widget used to display the approaches and showcases the date of closest approach, approximate object diameter, relative size and distance from Earth for each encounter.
The Widget displays "the next three Earth approaches to within 2.29 million miles ( 3.68 million kilometres ); an object larger than about 150 meters that can approach the Earth to within this distance is termed a potentially hazardous object," according to NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory official site.
Updated 19:09 IST, October 15th 2020