On June 6, an asteroid the size of a blue whale is expected to have a close encounter with Earth.

It is anticipated that the asteroid would avoid Earth by more than 2 million miles.

According to NASA, an asteroid up to three times the size of a blue whale will fly by Earth on Monday (June 6), traveling at a speed of more than 16,000 miles per hour (26,000 kilometers per hour).

The asteroid, given the designation 2021 GT2, is forecast to steer clear of our planet by a margin of more than 2.2 million miles (3.5 million kilometers) — which is equivalent to around ten times the typical distance between our planet and the moon. Astronomers discovered the space rock for the first time last year, and their initial estimations placed its width at between 37 and 83 meters or 121 to 272 feet. Even though this is between one and three times the length of a blue whale, it is not enormous enough to be regarded as a threat to Earth at this time.

Asteroid 2021 GT2 is classified as an Aten-class object, which indicates that it completes one circle around the sun every 342 days, which is a closer approach than Earth makes, and its orbital path intersects with Earth's orbit. More than 1,800 of these types of asteroids have been discovered by astronomers, and a significant number of them are regarded as potentially hazardous.
                                                  
After June 6, it will make its next close approach to Earth on January 26, 2034, when the asteroid will pass within 9 million miles (14.5 million km) of our planet. This will be a substantially farther-out approach than the one that is about to occur.

The asteroid is classified as a near-Earth object; a phrase used to describe asteroids and comets that orbit the sun at a distance of less than 1.3 astronomical units. (The distance between Earth and the sun, approximately 149.6 million kilometers or 93 million miles, is considered to be one astronomical unit.) Tens of thousands of these objects are tracked by NASA, and projections of their paths, beginning with the present and extending into the distant future for hundreds of years, are made. At this point, scientists do not believe that any objects located near Earth constitute a danger to our planet.

However, scientists want to be prepared if the course of a near-Earth asteroid should abruptly shift as a result of an unforeseen event. For example, two near-Earth asteroids might collide, sending massive amounts of debris flying throughout the solar system.

The United States Space Agency (NASA) is determining whether a huge asteroid can have its trajectory altered by slamming a rocket into it. NASA will launch an asteroid-deflecting spacecraft known as the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) in November 2021. This spacecraft is scheduled to collide head-on with the 530-foot-wide (160 m) Dimorphos asteroid in the fall of 2022. According to a previous article by Live Science, the collision will not be enough to destroy the asteroid, but it could significantly alter the orbital path of the rock.

 

 

 

Article source :  https://www.livescience.com/asteroid-2021-gt2-close-flyby-earth

Image source : https://pixabay.com/id/photos/asteroid-komet-meteorit-3628185/

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