An asteroid which has been describe as a PHA (Potentially Hazardous Asteroid) will pass by Earth on July 24, where it will come within just 0.034 astronomical units (5 570 000 km) of our planet.
The asteroid, named Asteroid 2020 ND is believed to be 160 metres in diameter, or 1.5 times the size of the London Eye, according to the Express. 2020 ND will be travelling at a speed of around 13.5 kilometres per second, which equates to an eye-watering 48,000 kilometres per hour.
According to NASA’s JPL website ‘Potentially Hazardous Asteroids’ (PHAs) are currently defined based on parameters that measure the asteroid’s potential to make a threatening close approaches to the Earth. Specifically, all asteroids with a minimum orbit intersection distance (MOID) of 0.05 au or less are considered PHAs.’
Due to the close proximity at which 2020 ND will pass by Earth, it also falls under the category of being a ‘Near Earth Object’ (NEO). While this may sound like an intimidating title, it actually give the space agency a good opportunity to study and better understand NEO’s.
NASA describes NEO’s as ‘comets and asteroids that have been nudged by the gravitational attraction of nearby planets into orbits that allow them to enter the Earth’s neighborhood. Composed mostly of water ice with embedded dust particles, comets originally formed in the cold outer planetary system while most of the rocky asteroids formed in the warmer inner solar system between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.’
Despite being categorised as PHA, the average distance between Earth and Moon is 385,000 km, meaning the asteroid will be too far away to do any harm.
Take a look at this interesting video NASA put together explaining exactly what Near Earth Objects are:
Image: Pixabay
