In the next month, five celestial objects will sweep near our planet, The Sun newspaper writes, citing NASA data. NASA experts are tracking thousands of similar celestial bodies, checking if they are too close to Earth. Astronomers characterize two asteroids as “potentially dangerous”.
The first received the number 2013 YD48. Its width is approximately 340 feet (104 m), making it larger than Big Ben.
The asteroid should pass by Earth within 3.48 million miles (5.6 million kilometers) of Earth on January 11 – from an astronomical point of view, this is considered a relatively close distance. NASA identifies everything that passes within 120 million miles of Earth as a near-Earth object.
Asteroid 2013 YD48 is tracked by NASA on the Asteroid Watch dashboard.
Scientists have recognized the inevitability of a catastrophe on Earth
The second giant will fly past our planet on January 18. 7482 (1994 PC1) is about two and a half times the height of the Empire State Building.
It is expected to pass at a distance of 0.013 astronomical units (about two million kilometers).
NASA also informs that three more smaller asteroids will pass near the Earth.
Asteroid 2021 YK, 38 feet (12 m) wide, will pass within 118,000 miles of Earth on January 2.
2014 YE15, 24 ft (7 m), will take place on January 6 within 4.6 million miles.
2020 AP1, just 13 feet (4 m) across, will take place on January 7 at a distance of 1.08 million miles.
Scientists have increased the probability of an Earth collision with a potentially dangerous asteroid Bennu. The potentially dangerous near-Earth asteroid Bennu may collide with Earth before 2300 with a probability of 1/1750, and this probability turned out to be higher than was thought until recently. This conclusion was reached by American scientists who made the most accurate calculations of the orbit of this cosmic body.
