NASA has revealed that a dangerous asteroid flew past Earth today. Did it cause damage?
For those of you who don’t know, an asteroid is a terrifyingly small, rocky object in space that travels at tremendous speed, and when seen in a telescope, it appears as a bright spot, according to NASA. Most asteroids are found in a ring between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, the asteroid belt. These celestial bodies are the remnants of the period when our solar system was formed, more than 4.6 billion years ago. Asteroids can sometimes come close to Earth without danger of impacting the surface. NASA has announced that a similar asteroid just missed the planet today.
Key Details about Asteroid 2022 ST7
An asteroid, named Asteroid 2022 ST7, was spotted heading toward Earth today, September 29. The asteroid was spotted by NASA’s Defense Coordination Office, which is responsible for monitoring the sky and monitoring several Near-Earth Objects (NEOs). The Planetary Defense Coordination Office classifies NEOs as potentially dangerous if they come within about 7.5 million to 8 million kilometers of Earth.
The asteroid 2022 ST7 closest approached the planet at a distance of 4.1 million kilometers during the early morning hours at a speed of 18,000 kilometers per hour. The asteroid belongs to the Apollo group and orbits the sun, taking about 427 days to complete one journey. During this orbit, the maximum distance from the sun is 203 million kilometers and the minimum distance is 129 million kilometers, according to the-sky.org.
Has an asteroid ever hit Earth before?
While asteroids have passed safely near Earth in recent weeks, that doesn’t mean a collision with Earth isn’t on the agenda. In fact, an asteroid was the reason behind the extinction of one of the largest species on the planet, nearly 65 million years ago – dinosaurs.
According to the Alvarez hypothesis, the extinction was caused by a huge asteroid that crashed into Earth more than 65 million years ago. The asteroid formed the planet and is likely the reason the dinosaur extinction began. Scientists have even found the asteroid’s impact crater in Chicxulub, near Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.
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