NASA: Skyscraper-Sized Asteroid Will Pass Earth In February
Geo Beats
2018-01-19
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NASA has announced that a "near-Earth" asteroid is expected to safely pass our planet in February.
Don't panic, but an asteroid that's bigger than the tallest building on Earth is headed our way.
"Asteroid 2002 AJ129 will make a close approach to Earth on Feb. 4, 2018 at 1:30 p.m. PST," NASA said on Thursday. "2002 AJ129 is an intermediate-sized near-Earth asteroid, somewhere between 0.3 miles and 0.75 miles."
The agency adds, "at the time of closest approach, the asteroid will be no closer than 10 times the distance between Earth and the Moon (about 2.6 million miles)."
2002 AJ129 was discovered on January 15, 2002.
Paul Chodas, manager of NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, says its orbit is known accurately and the asteroid has "no chance — zero — of colliding with Earth on Feb. 4 or any time over the next 100 years."
Don't panic, but an asteroid that's bigger than the tallest building on Earth is headed our way.
"Asteroid 2002 AJ129 will make a close approach to Earth on Feb. 4, 2018 at 1:30 p.m. PST," NASA said on Thursday. "2002 AJ129 is an intermediate-sized near-Earth asteroid, somewhere between 0.3 miles and 0.75 miles."
The agency adds, "at the time of closest approach, the asteroid will be no closer than 10 times the distance between Earth and the Moon (about 2.6 million miles)."
2002 AJ129 was discovered on January 15, 2002.
Paul Chodas, manager of NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, says its orbit is known accurately and the asteroid has "no chance — zero — of colliding with Earth on Feb. 4 or any time over the next 100 years."
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