WASHINGTON — An asteroid more than twice the size of the Empire State Building will come within 1.98 million kilometers of the Earth on January 18, according to NASA.
At between 1 and 1.3 kilometers wide, NASA considers asteroid 7482 ‘potentially hazardous,’ with the Davidson Institute of Science calculating asteroids over 140 meters would release at least a thousand times more energy than the first atomic bomb on impact with Earth, while an asteroid over 300 meters could destroy an entire continent.
Of course, any chances of such an impact are entirely unlikely, as the closest 7482 is likely to come to Earth is more than five times the distance of that between the Earth and the Moon, and it is also not alone in being a potentially hazardous asteroid passing by this month.
Asteroid 2013 YD48 will fly past Earth January 12 around 5.59 million kilometers away, and asteroid 2017 XC62 will pass around 7.2 million kilometers away on January 24.
At between 1 and 1.3 kilometers wide, NASA considers asteroid 7482 ‘potentially hazardous,’ with the Davidson Institute of Science calculating asteroids over 140 meters would release at least a thousand times more energy than the first atomic bomb on impact with Earth, while an asteroid over 300 meters could destroy an entire continent.
Of course, any chances of such an impact are entirely unlikely, as the closest 7482 is likely to come to Earth is more than five times the distance of that between the Earth and the Moon, and it is also not alone in being a potentially hazardous asteroid passing by this month.
Asteroid 2013 YD48 will fly past Earth January 12 around 5.59 million kilometers away, and asteroid 2017 XC62 will pass around 7.2 million kilometers away on January 24.
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