by A sizable space rock will make its closest approach to Earth in four centuries on Wednesday night (Feb. 15), but there’s nothing to fear.
Near-Earth asteroid 2005 YY128 will pass within 2.8 million miles (4.5 million km) of our planet at 7:46 pm EST on Wednesday (0046 GMT on Feb. more than 400 years, according to EarthSky.org (opens in new tab).
Still, that’s about 12 times the distance from Earth to the Moon, so there’s no chance the asteroid will hit us in this pass, experts emphasize.
Related: What are asteroids?
As its name suggests, 2005 YY128 was discovered in 2005 by astronomers at the Kitt Peak Observatory in southern Arizona. Over the past 17 years, researchers have mapped its orbit with a high degree of accuracy.
Their observations, however, did not define the size of 2005 YY128. The best astronomers can give us is a range in diameter — somewhere between 1,903 feet (580 meters) and 4,265 feet (1.3 km), according to EarthSky.
2005 YY128 therefore qualifies as a potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA), a designation given to space rocks at least 460 feet (140 m) wide whose orbits bring them within 0.05 astronomical units (AU) of our planet. (One AU is the average distance from Earth to the Sun — about 93 million miles, or 150 million km. So 0.05 AU is approximately 4.6 million miles, or 7.4 million km.)
If 2005 YY128 were to collide with Earth, it would cause serious damage, no matter what part of its stated size range the asteroid actually occupies.
“The largest near-Earth asteroids (> 1 km in diameter) have the potential to cause geological and climate effects on a global scale, disrupting human civilization and perhaps even resulting in species extinction,” wrote the Global Challenges Foundation, a nonprofit organization lucrative companies based in Sweden. the threat of an asteroid impact (opens in new tab). “Smaller NEOs (near-Earth objects) in the size range of 140 meters to 1 km could cause regional to continental devastation, potentially killing hundreds of millions.”
But again, don’t be alarmed: 2005 YY128 poses no danger in this passage.
The approach of 2005 YY128 takes place on a fateful day – the 10th anniversary of the Chelyabinsk air blast.
On February 15, 2013, a space rock approximately 20 meters wide exploded without warning over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, shattering thousands of windows and causing minor injuries to the ground (mostly from shards of broken glass). . The incident highlighted the importance of better understanding the NEO population, astronomers said, stressing that it’s only a matter of time before a truly dangerous asteroid aligns Earth in its crosshairs.
NASA opened its Planetary Defense Coordination Office a few years after the Chelyabinsk event, and astronomers and researchers from around the world joined the fight to protect Earth.
As a result, scientists are getting better and better control of the NEO population. For example, NASA and its partners have found over 95% of asteroids at least 0.6 miles (1 km) wide that are believed to come within 30 million miles (50 million km) of Earth at some point. And none of them pose a danger for the foreseeable future.
Mike Wall is the author of “Out there (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).
