A newly discovered asteroid passes near Earth

An asteroid discovered just two days ago passed very close to Earth on Thursday afternoon (11). This is the 25th time a small space object has approached the planet this year alone, passing exactly where our satellites are located.

According to the European Space Agency (ESA)The estimated size of the rock is about 2 to 5 meters (about the measurements of a passenger car). This means that the asteroid, called 2024 GJ2, would have completely burned up in Earth's atmosphere if it crossed it.

According to NASAThe asteroid's closest approach to the planet was at 3:28 pm (Brasilia time), when it passed within just 13,000 kilometers of us – just over the diameter of Earth and less than 4% of the distance from here to Earth. moon.

This space rock will not return to the ends of the Earth until 2093. According to the European Space Agency's Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre. At that time, 2024 GJ2 will not pass as close to the planet as this time, as the distance is estimated at about 206 thousand kilometers (more than 15 times longer than its passage this afternoon).

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Earth will not be hit by a dangerous asteroid until the next century

Weekly, NASA releases the panel Asteroid observation, which tracks asteroids and comets that will pass relatively close to Earth. The chart displays the closest date, estimated size of the object, measurement reference, and distance reached.

The next five steps appear at a distance of 7.5 million kilometers (or 19.5 times the average distance from Earth to the Moon). Any rock larger than about 150 meters that falls within this range is called a Potentially Hazardous Object (PHA).

The agency estimated the trajectories of all nearby PHAs until the end of this century, and found that there is no risk of a cataclysmic collision with Earth for at least the next 100 years.