Astronomer David Smith captured video footage of an enormous asteroid that measured 3,451 feet across as it came closest to Earth in just 90 years.
The asteroid number 7482 (1994 PC1) can be described as a tiny white dot that traveled towards our planet on Monday, January 17, at 19:00 GMT.
The following evening, at 21:51 GMT (16:51 EST) on January 18, the asteroid made its closest approach to Earth since 1933, coming within 1.2 million miles of our planet.
The clip was captured by Gianluca Masi, an astrophysicist and manager of the Virtual Telescope Project, provided by the Bellatrix Astronomical Observatory in Italy.
Another eight so-called near-Earth objects (NEOs) are set to pass safely by Earth this month, according to NASA.
The image is a still taken from footage. It was remotely captured with the Elena robotic unit at Virtual Telescope.
The fast motion of the Asteroid was observed by the telescope. The stars appear as long trails. However, the asteroid is sharply marked by an arrow.
Masi said that they captured many images of the dangerous (7482) 1994 PC1 asteroid while it was safely near them.
“We made nice animations and a static picture. This image was taken remotely with an Elena robotic unit at Virtual Telescope. It took 60 seconds to capture the exposure.
The telescope recorded the rapid apparent motion of the asteroids, which is the reason stars appear to have long trails. However, the asteroid appears like an sharp spot of light at the centre of the picture, with an arrow marking it.
“Using all of the images in the sequence, we were able to create the animation below showing 1994 PC1 motion against the stars.
NASA has put the diameter of the asteroid (7482) (1994 PC1) at 3,451 feet (1.052km). This is much higher than what the Burj Khalifa, Dubai’s tallest building, is 2,722 feet high.
Following its close approach on Tuesday, 7482 (1994 PC1) won’t be this close to Earth again until the year 2105, according to NASA JPL-Caltech’s Solar System Dynamics.
Asteroid number 7482 (1994 P1) orbits the sun approximately every 1.5 years. It was discovered for the first time by RH McNaught, an astronomer who used the Siding Spring Observatory, New South Wales.
Asteroid #7482 (1994 P1) was the first to be discovered by Australian astronomers. This asteroid made a very close approach to Earth on this week of April 22, 1994.
NASA estimates that the diameter (1.052km) of Asteroid 7482 (1994 P1) is 3,451ft, which is more than any tall building.
According to Astronomers, its orbit ranges from 0.9 to 1.8AU. 1AU refers to the distance between Earth and sun.
It’s a S-type common stony asteroid. Every close encounter gives astronomers the opportunity to examine the surface and discover more about these old space rocks.
NASA and various agencies monitor more than 28,000 known asteroids while they orbit the Sun.
A massive asteroid more than twice as large as the Empire State Building in New York was within 1.2 Million Miles of Earth
Sun (yellow) · Earth (blue) · 1994 PC1 (magenta)
NASA claims that none of the asteroids known to have collided with Earth in the immediate future. However, there are other asteroids whose orbits are unknown.
Asteroids and other space objects are being monitored by NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies.
It describes 7482 (1994PC1) as an near-Earth object, (NEO), and potentially dangerous asteroid (PHA).
NEOs are an asteroid or comet whose orbit brings it into or through a zone between approximately 91 million and 121 million miles (195 million km) from the Sun, meaning that it can pass within about 30 million miles (50 million km) of Earth’s orbit.
It is considered potentially hazardous if the object measures more than 460ft (140m) in diameter.
‘NEOs are comets and asteroids that have been nudged by the gravitational attraction of nearby planets into orbits that allow them to enter the Earth’s neighbourhood,’ said NASA.
Composed of mostly water ice, embedded dust particles and other elements, comets were originally created in the outer planetary systems. Most of the rocky asteroids formed between Jupiter and Mars in the inner solar system.
“The reason that comets are still of scientific importance is their role as relatively unaltered remnants of the solar system’s formation around 4.6 billion years ago.
NASA publicly accessible data shows that 27,948 NEOs were discovered as of Tuesday.
The Earth is safe from the space rock, 7482 (1994PC1)), as it travels at 43,000 mph, which is five times faster than the Moon.
Every 1.5 years, Asteroid Number 7482 (1994 PPC1) orbits around the Sun. This is its orbit in relation to other planets of the Solar System.
There are approximately 25,000 Near-Earth Objects (NEOs), which can be larger than 460 feet (135 metres).
Additionally, there are approximately 1,000 NEOs that exceed 3280 feet (1 km), which shows the importance to track these space rocks.
NASA data shows that eight additional NEOs will be passing Earth between January 20-28.
One of these, Asteroid 2022 AB, could be up to 361 feet wide, which is not much in comparison to asteroid 7482 (1994 PC1) but still larger than Big Ben.
NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program estimates that Earth is struck by a small rock about the size of a football every 5,000 to a million years.
NASA created a program for planetary defense to combat the danger posed by asteroids. It includes DART (double asteroid redirection test) which was launched in November.