NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has issued an alert about a massive asteroid hurtling towards Earth and it is set to come dangerously close. The potentially hazardous asteroid, named 2023 FY6, measures 99 feet and is expected to pass very close to Earth on April 2, which is tomorrow, according to information provided on NASA. If any NEO comes within 4.6 million miles or 7.5 million kilometres of Earth, NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office red flags the NEO and issues an alert. Will this 99-foot-wide asteroid 2023 FY6 pose a danger to Earth? Know what NASA says.
99-foot wide asteroid DANGER
As per the asteroid data tracking page by NASA, Asteroid 2023 FY6 will fly past the Earth tomorrow, April 2 at a close distance of just 2.38 million miles. It is coming at a fiery speed of 81013 kmph.
The asteroid 2022 SO113 was recently detected only recently, on March 22, 2023 and it belongs to the Apollo group. Sky.org said that this asteroid makes one orbit around the Sun in 1032 days. After this, the next expected close approach of this giant space rock is on 3rd April 2167.
Tech tracking asteroids
The Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at NASA is responsible for monitoring all known near-Earth objects to assess their potential impact risk. While there are no objects currently posing a threat to Earth, scientists continue to scan the skies for unknown asteroids. NASA is actively researching and planning for ways to prevent or minimize the impact of a potential collision if one were to be discovered.
To detect the danger, NASA has established the NEO Observations Program, which is tasked with finding, tracking, and characterizing NEOs, and identifying those that may pose a hazard to Earth. Ground-based telescopes and NASA’s NEOWISE spacecraft are currently used to locate NEOs.
