A gigantic asteroid, twice the height of the Burj Khalifa, is approaching Earth. This asteroid is the largest to come near the planet in 2022. According to data from NASA's Near-Earth Object Studies Center, the asteroid 1989 JA is estimated to be 1.7 kilometers long. An asteroid of this size could cause widespread destruction if it were to collide with Earth, but the likelihood of such an impact is extremely low, as it will pass by our planet this Friday at a distance of four million kilometers, which is ten times the distance between Earth and the Moon.
Frank Marchese, a senior planetary scientist at the SETI Institute, stated that the asteroid is traveling at a speed of approximately 48,000 kilometers per hour. This speed is 17 times faster than a bullet in the air, allowing it to orbit Earth in about 45 minutes. The astronomer Eleanor Helin from the Palomar Observatory in Southern California discovered this asteroid in 1989. As a result, scientists are well acquainted with it, and its orbit has been accurately mapped by specialists. Therefore, it could "pose a risk to Earth" since it belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids, whose orbits can intersect with Earth's orbit.
Those wishing to watch the asteroid fly by can follow a live stream from Chile on Friday, April 27, 2022, at 02:00 Moscow time, and from Argentina on the same day at 16:00 Moscow time on the Virtual Telescope Project website.
