NASA says that a 37-meter-long asteroid will make “close to Earth” today

A 37-meter-long asteroid will approach Earth today (Sep 8), NASA He certainly carried on.

The NEO, known as 2020 PT4, will move beyond Land And the moon is just over a million miles away – which is definitely “close” in the context of space.

The space rock, which is about two trucks long, will propel at about seven million miles per second.

At this point, you might be slightly concerned about the possibility that NASA will get its calculations out of about a million miles, leaving Earth on a collision course with a double space truck traveling at seven million miles per second.

However, NASA has assured us that if the 2020 PT4 collides with Earth, its relatively small size (from a space perspective) means that it will likely disintegrate in the atmosphere, causing minimal damage to our planet.

The asteroid named 2020 QGHe flew inside About 2,950 km (1,830 mi) from Earth – very close in terms of asteroids.

In fact, according to asteroid trackers and a catalog compiled by Surmano The Astronomical Observatory at Italia, Is the closest recording ever.

The Palomar Observatory in California did not discover the massive space rocks until about six hours after they flew over the Earth.

Paul ShodasSaid director of the NASA Center for Near Earth Object Studies Interested in the businessThe asteroid approached the direction of the sun without being detected.

“We did not expect that.”

making sure The asteroid flew close to Earth on him He broke records and added:Yesterday’s approach is the closest of all, if you exclude some of the known asteroids that have already affected our planet. “

But while indoor asteroids may make us feel a little shiver, NASA says the likes of the 2020 PT4 and 2020 QG provide invaluable insights about our solar system.

He Said: Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) are comets and asteroids that have been pushed by the gravitational pull of nearby planets into orbits that allow them to enter Earth’s neighborhood.

“The scientific interest in comets and asteroids is largely due to their condition as the remaining debris that was relatively unchanged from the formation of the solar system about 4.6 billion years ago.”