2011 ES4 Asteroid to skim past Earth on Sept 1 at a distance of 120000 km, the closest yet

An Asteroid will skim past Earth next week and it will come at a distance much closer than the Moon. The Apollo near-Earth asteroid was discovered by astronomers in 2011 and it has since been called the ‘2011 ES4 Asteroid.’ It also had its closest approach to our planet the same year on March 13. It has been described as an asteroid that has a considerably wide orbit around the Sun and the planet Earth.

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What time will the Asteroid be visible?

The 2011 ES4 Asteroid is expected to fly by our planet on September 1, 2020, at 10:49 A.M. Eastern Time. It will pass at a distance of approximately 120,000 km from the Earth, which is a very close distance. However, it may sound a bit concerning if you consider the Earth's distance from the Moon, which is about 384,400 km. The asteroid is expected to travel at 18,253 miles per hour (29,375 km) when it flies by the Earth. It is also worth noting that it can be very difficult to observe the asteroids passing close to Earth with a naked eye.

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The American Space Agency has already added the '2011 ES4 Asteroid' on its Center for NEO Studies' database of Close Approaches. In its database, the Center for NEO Studies has classified the 2011 ES4 as an Apollo asteroid. It explains that the Near-Earth Objects are asteroids and comets that are prodded through the gravitational attraction of the adjacent spheres into the orbit of the sun. This allows the asteroids and comets to fly near our planet. NASA has also called this asteroid as a potentially dangerous one, however, it is found that it doesn't pose any kind of threat due to its diameter which is considerably small in size.

As for the difference between the two, most of the asteroids are developed between Jupiter and Mars' orbits in the solar system. On the other hand, comets develop in the outer planetary system and are made up of ice and other particles mixed with dust.

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Image credits: NASA