Two days after NASA discovered it, an asteroid the size of a car passed near Earth
Washington, April 12 / WAM / An asteroid discovered by NASA scientists on April 9 passed from a close distance from planet Earth yesterday.
However, this close approach did not pose any threat to life on Earth. The asteroid is called (2024 GJ2) and is approximately the size of a car. Since its discovery at the beginning of this week, astronomers have expected that this space rock will pass near Earth at a distance of only 12 thousand miles (19.3 thousand kilometers) at its closest point to our planet, that is, only 3% of the distance between Earth and the Moon, which makes 2024 GJ2 one of the closest asteroids that Its passage by Earth has never been recorded.
Despite this close approach, it was not worrisome about the possibility of it causing any harm to the planet since it is not on a collision course with Earth. Its length is between 2.5 and 5 meters (8.2 and 16 feet), according to the European Space Agency (ESA). This means that it is an asteroid. Of the weight category that it would have burned up in Earth’s atmosphere, if its orbit happened to intersect ours more directly.
Astronomers believe that the asteroid’s closest approach to Earth occurred at 2:28:42 pm EST (18:28:42 GMT) yesterday, Thursday, at a distance of 7,641 miles (12,298 kilometers).
The next closest flyby of 2024 GJ2 from Earth will not occur until 2093, according to the European Space Agency’s Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre. When that happens, the asteroid will not pass by as close as it did yesterday, Thursday.
It is estimated that the asteroid’s approach in 2093 will be at a distance of up to 127,970 miles (205,947 kilometers), that is, 10 times the distance it flew yesterday and a little more than half the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
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