NASA has announced that a huge asteroid will fly near the Earth. So far it does not pose a danger to us, but its route may change.
NASA researchers say they have discovered an asteroid the size of the Giza pyramid. It is estimated that the maximum rapprochement with the planet will be on July 26.
Scientists have already calculated that this asteroid does not pose a threat to Earth. However, NASA is still tracking such objects – this is an opportunity to learn more about the early solar system. At the same time, asteroids are rocky fragments, in the case of changes in their orbits, the asteroid may pose a danger to Earth in the future.
The asteroid, named 2008 GO20, will fly 4.5 million kilometers from Earth. According to preliminary data, the asteroid will move at a speed of 29 thousand km / h.
The size of the asteroid is 97-220 m in diameter. If it flew closer to Earth, researchers would consider it a potentially dangerous object.
However, researchers note that this is not the closest known flight of the asteroid. This happened on August 16, 2020, when the 2020 QG flew only 2,950 km over the Indian Ocean. However, it was so small that it did not pose a danger to life on Earth.
At the same time, the 2008 GO20 is “potentially dangerous” because over time, the gravitational pull of the planets can change the path of the object, so that it crosses the Earth’s orbit. If this happens, it may collide with our planet in the future, NASA said.