Will this year even give us a time to breathe without having to worry about another potential threat looming? While we still brace with the coronavirus pandemic, there are asteroid flybys past the planet. Now another huge space rock is set to pass in close distance of the earth. NASA has identified another potentially hazardous rock named 2020ND is going to fly past the earth next week. Now is it going to be dangerous or bring a doomsday? Read on to find out. Major Doomsday Averted? Huge Asteroid 2020 LD, The Size of Taj Mahal, Flew Close to The Earth And Scientists Realised Two Days Later!
This asteroid 2020ND is about 170 metres which makes it bigger than the monumental London Eye. This rock is on a close approach, it will pass on July 24, exactly a week from now. In its closest approach, 2020ND will come within just 0.034 astronomical units (AU) of our planet. It is about 5,086,327 kilometres from our planet, so it is not going to hit the planet or cause any damage. However, this distance is closer in the astronomical units. This gigantic rock is travelling at a speed of 13.5 kilometres per second or 48,000 kilometres per hour. Asteroid Day 2020: From 'What is Asteroid' to 'What Happens if Asteroid Hits Earth', FAQs About Space Rocks Answered.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) which keeps a tab on approaching space rocks has certain criteria to mark a space rock in the "potentially hazardous" category. Asteroids in close proximity are also called the Near-Earth Objects (NEOs). NASA was quoted to a report, "Specifically, all asteroids with a minimum orbit intersection distance (MOID) of 0.05 au or less are considered PHAs (Potentially Hazardous Asteroids)." 2020ND comes with 0.034 astronomical units (AU) of Earth. It is not going to close any physical crash or damage to the planet, so if it comes as a warning of another doomsday, be ready to squash such warnings.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 17, 2020 12:52 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).