One-kilometer asteroid will pass ‘close’ to Earth next week

An asteroid approximately one kilometer wide will pass Earth on January 18, next Tuesday.

It will be about 1,931 million kilometers away from our planet, moving at a speed of 76,192 km/h, according to NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, which tracks potentially dangerous comets and asteroids that have collision potential.

The approaching body is known as 7482 (1994 PC1) and was discovered in 1994, according to NASA.

No one expects 7482 (1994 PC1) to hit Earth, but it’s the closest an asteroid will get in the next two centuries, according to the space agency’s projections.

The flyover is expected to take place on Tuesday, January 18 at 18:51 (Brasilia time).

It won’t be the biggest asteroid that has ever passed Earth. That honor belongs to 3122 Florence (1981 ET3), which flew and did not collide with our planet on September 1, 2017.

This asteroid is estimated to be between four and 8.4 kilometers wide and will make another pass through here on September 2, 2057.

While 7482 (1994 PC1) is unlikely to be visible to the naked eye, amateur astronomers with a small telescope should be able to spot it, according to EarthSky.com.

In September of this year, a NASA spacecraft will intentionally collide with an asteroid to change its motion in space – testing technology developed to deflect an asteroid.

Known as the DART mission, or Double Asteroid Redirection Test, the spacecraft is targeting Dimorphos, a small moon orbiting the near-Earth asteroid Didymos.

They are understood as near-Earth objects, asteroids and comets with orbits that place them 48 million kilometers from our planet.

Detecting the threat of near-Earth objects, which can cause serious damage, is a primary focus for NASA and other space organizations around the world.

With information from CNN’s Ashley Strickland*