Asteroid 2002 AJ129 will make a close approach to Earth on February 4, 2018 at 21:30 UTC (4:30 p.m. EST); translate to your time zone. At the time of closest approach, the asteroid will be no closer than 10 times the distance between Earth and the moon (about 2.6 million miles, or 4.2 million km).
2002 AJ129 is an intermediate-sized near-Earth asteroid, somewhere between 0.3 miles (0.5 km) and 0.75 miles (1.2 km) across. It was discovered on January 15, 2002, by the former NASA-sponsored Near Earth Asteroid Tracking project at the Maui Space Surveillance Site on Haleakala, Hawaii.
The asteroid’s velocity at the time of closest approach, 76,000 mph (34 km per second), is higher than the majority of near-Earth objects during an Earth flyby. The high flyby velocity is a result of the asteroid’s orbit, which approaches very close to the sun – 11 million miles (18 million km). Although asteroid 2002 AJ129 is categorized as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA), it does not pose an actual threat of colliding with our planet for the foreseeable future.
Paul Chodas is manager of NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. He said in a statement:
We have been tracking this asteroid for over 14 years and know its orbit very accurately. 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.
Enjoying EarthSky so far? Sign up for our free daily newsletter today!
Bottom line: NASA reported that asteroid 2002 AJ129 will make a close approach to Earth on February 4, 2018.
from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2n7JaS4
Asteroid 2002 AJ129 will make a close approach to Earth on February 4, 2018 at 21:30 UTC (4:30 p.m. EST); translate to your time zone. At the time of closest approach, the asteroid will be no closer than 10 times the distance between Earth and the moon (about 2.6 million miles, or 4.2 million km).
2002 AJ129 is an intermediate-sized near-Earth asteroid, somewhere between 0.3 miles (0.5 km) and 0.75 miles (1.2 km) across. It was discovered on January 15, 2002, by the former NASA-sponsored Near Earth Asteroid Tracking project at the Maui Space Surveillance Site on Haleakala, Hawaii.
The asteroid’s velocity at the time of closest approach, 76,000 mph (34 km per second), is higher than the majority of near-Earth objects during an Earth flyby. The high flyby velocity is a result of the asteroid’s orbit, which approaches very close to the sun – 11 million miles (18 million km). Although asteroid 2002 AJ129 is categorized as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA), it does not pose an actual threat of colliding with our planet for the foreseeable future.
Paul Chodas is manager of NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. He said in a statement:
We have been tracking this asteroid for over 14 years and know its orbit very accurately. 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.
Enjoying EarthSky so far? Sign up for our free daily newsletter today!
Bottom line: NASA reported that asteroid 2002 AJ129 will make a close approach to Earth on February 4, 2018.
from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2n7JaS4
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire