Giant asteroid larger than 'Burj Khalifa' to pass through Earth
Highlights
- A giant asteroid will pass through the earth today, as per NASA.
- After today, it will not pass through the planet for another century.
- NASA has also shared a way in which people can track the asteroid approaching closer.
A giant asteroid is all set to pass through the earth today (January 18), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had notified a week ago. Its dimensions are around 3,280 feet (about 1 km or .6 of a mile), more than 2 times the height of the Empire State Building. This asteroid is also set to be larger than Dubai's Burj Khalifa, which is the world's tallest building.
NASA has also shared a way in which people can track the asteroid approaching closer. By tapping on NASA's live asteroid tracker, using the link below, people can view how far the asteroid is and how long will it take to pass through the Earth.
However, this asteroid's arrival was long foreseen by scientists back in 1994. Hence, despite its huge size and dimensions, NASA has deemed it as 'safe'. NASA assured people that the asteroid, 1994 PC1, will “safely fly past our planet 1.2 million miles away”.
As per NASA, the asteroid's closest approach to Earth occurs on January 18, 2022, at 4:51 p.m. EST (21:51 UTC). Asteroid 7482 (1994 PC1) was discovered by astronomer Robert McNaught in 1994, NASA informed.
After today, the asteroid won't pass through our planet for another century. Today's approach will be the closest for this asteroid for at least the next 200 years for which astronomers have calculated its orbit.
