According to Nasa, an asteroid three times the size of the Taj Mahal will pass close to Earth late on Sunday, reaching its closest approach. The Near-Earth Object 2008 GO20 will speed past Earth at 8.2 kilometres per second, passing within three to four million kilometres of our planet.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) defines a Near-Earth Object (NEO) as an asteroid or comet that approaches Earth at a distance of less than 1.3 times the distance between the blue planet and the Sun, and NEOs pose no threat to humans.
Dr Subhendu Pattnaik, the deputy director of the Pathani Samanta Planetarium in Odisha’s Bhubaneswar, has said there is no need to worry as there is no chance of 2008 GO20 colliding with Earth. “We should not panic. We can safely say that it will not hit the earth,” said Dr Pattnaik
“This asteroid has visited Earth at a much closer distance of 19 lakh km and 29 lakh km in 1935 and 1977 respectively. At that time, it flew away and never came towards Earth. This time it is around 45 lakh km, which is about 11 to 12 times the Earth-Moon distance, so there is no danger of hitting Earth,” he added.
According to Pattnaik, the 2008 GO20 will be closest to Earth at 11:21 p.m. Indian Standard Time on Sunday (IST). According to him, the massive asteroid will be 97 metres wide and 230 metres long, roughly the size of four football fields combined.
He said that the asteroid is moving towards Earth at a speed of 29,000 kilometres per hour, an average of 8 kilometres per second. “Given this high speed, anything that crosses the path of the asteroid will be destroyed,” Pattnaik said.
The near-earth asteroid last came close to Earth on June 20, 2008, and it will do so again on July 25, 2034.
Thousands of asteroids, ranging in size from a few centimetres to hundreds of kilometres, orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, and are occasionally drawn to Earth by its gravitational pull. Even before they reach the Earth’s surface, 99.9% of them are burned to ashes in the atmosphere, according to Pattnaik.
“Scientists have now compiled a list of more than 23,628 large asteroids that move closer to earth and are monitoring their movements. Out of these, only 1,045 have been classified as potentially dangerous asteroids which are named as Near-Earth Objects (NEO),” he said.
