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TEHRAN, January 21 - A “potentially hazardous” asteroid, larger than the world’s tallest building, is heading towards Earth at a speed of 76,000 miles per hour.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - A “potentially hazardous” asteroid, larger than the world’s tallest building, is heading towards Earth at a speed of 76,000 miles per hour.
Asteroid 2002 AJ129 will fly past Earth on February 4, coming within 2.6 million miles (4.2 million kilometers) of our planet, according to NASA.
Although this is the equivalent of ten times the distance between Earth and the moon, it falls within the parameters of “potentially dangerous” – a classification applied to any asteroid within 4.6 million miles of the Earth.
The high flyby velocity is a result of the asteroid's orbit, which edges very close to the sun. Despite this, NASA states categorically that there is no threat of a collision with our planet.
"We have been tracking this asteroid for over 14 years and know its orbit very accurately," said Paul Chodas from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“Our calculations indicate that asteroid 2002 AJ129 has no chance – zero – of colliding with Earth on February 4 or any time over the next 100 years."
Source: RT
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