A giant asteroid will approach Earth next week. But don't worry, unlike the dangerous asteroid in the movie 'Don't Look Up', this asteroid will not hit Earth.
The asteroid, known as (7482) 1994 PC1 will pass Earth on January 18, 2022 at a speed of 70,415 km/hour. Based on data from NASA's JPL-Caltech Solar System Dynamics, this asteroid will approach Earth with a distance of 2 million km.
That distance looks quite far, but by space standards it is close enough for an object of such a large size. Asteroid 1994 PC1 has a length of 1.1 km, equivalent to two Empire State Buildings, as quoted from LiveScience, Saturday (15/1/2022).
Because of its size and distance, NASA classifies this asteroid as a potentially dangerous object. This classification is given to celestial objects measuring more than 140 meters and passing Earth at a distance of less than 7.5 million km.
This asteroid is also part of another category known as near-Earth objects (NEOs) that approach Earth at a distance of about 50 million km. Based on data from the Center for Near Earth Object Studies, there are currently 28,000 NEOs with a diameter of 140 meters and about 3,000 objects were added to their list.
This approach can also be used by stargazers who like to observe the night sky. At its closest position, asteroid 1994 PC1 can be seen using a telescope if the weather is favorable.
Asteroid 1994 PC1 was first discovered by astronomer Robert H McNaught on August 9, 1994. Using McNaught's observations, other scientists discovered that the asteroid orbits the sun every 572 days and its existence was caught by telescopes in 1974.
The approach on January 18 tomorrow is still very far when compared to the approach on January 17, 1933 where the asteroid approached Earth with a distance of 1.1 million km. This asteroid will return to Earth at close range in 2105.