New Delhi:
Asteroids - Now-a-days, you must be hearing a lot about the celestial phenomenon. Aren’t you? A large number of asteroids are hovering all around the Earth and we might get hit too sooner or later. Recently, News Nation reported that a pair of deadly asteroids (space rocks) dubbed as 2019 QY3 and 2017 KP27 had zip past the Earth. Well, Earth will have a close encounter with an asteroid (space rock) identified as 1998 HL1. Yes, you read it right. Asteroid 1998 HL1 will come dangerously close to our planet on October 25, 2019. Asteroid 1998 HL1 measures about 3,248-feet and NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) has classified it as a ‘potentially hazardous’ space rock.
The space rock is currently traveling through space at the speed of 25,000 miles per hour and is expected to approach Earth on October 25 at 3:59 AM IST. Asteroid 1998 HL1 is certainly capable of wiping out an entire city if it collides with Earth. Relax, the chances of space rock hitting the Earth is nil and we are safe.
At its closest approach, the space rock will near-miss Earth from a distance of approximately 0.04155 astronomical units (au). Importantly, a single astronomical unit is the same distance as between the Earth to the Sun, which is roughly about roughly 3.9 million miles from the planet's centre.
1998 HL1 is also classified as an Apollo asteroid. Asteroid 1998 HL1 has a very wide orbit around the Sun and Earth. Asteroid 1998 HL1 was first detected on June 24, 1998, by the LINEAR survey at the Lincoln Laboratory's Experimental Test Site in Socorro, New Mexico. The last time the asteroid visited Earth’s neighbourhood was on June 13. During this time, the asteroid approached the planet from a distance of about 0.37388 astronomical units or around 35 million miles away.
Also Read: Asteroid Bennu 101955 To Zoom Past Earth Today, Warns NASA, INEVITABLE Hit Likely In 2135
An asteroid (space rock) can bring tsunamis, shock waves and flattening winds that could be catastrophic. The space rocks approach towards the Earth due to the gravitational forces that affect them. It is said that one day all life on the Earth will be extinct. Not only life, but the Earth will also extinct someday and an asteroid could be the possible reason. Shocked to hear that? However, a car-sized asteroid slams into the Earth's atmosphere about once in a year. On the other hand, an asteroid large enough to threaten the existence of life on Earth arrives once in every few million.
