Watch Two Bus-Sized Asteroids Discovered On July 4 Have Very Close Encounters With Earth This Week
Dangerous asteroid approaching planet Earth, elements of this image furnished by NASA: – Earth: … [+]
The Pan-STARRS survey in Hawaii has just discovered two incoming asteroids that will get close to Earth this week.
The bus-sized asteroids will make their closest approaches to our planet on July 6 and July 7, 2022, respectively.
The first one will get to within just 84,000 miles/135,000 kilometers of Earth today, July 6, 2022. That’s about a third of the Earth-Moon distance.
Called 2022 NE and classified by NASA, the near-Earth asteroid is between 20 ft./6 meters. That’s about the size of a bus.
It’s not a dangerous event, but it has been described by an asteroid expert as a “very near encounter.” It’s shot to the top of NASA’s dedicated website detailing the next five close asteroid encounters.
Next up on July 7, 2022 will be 2022 NF, which will get even closer—just 55,000 miles/89,000 kilomters. That’s about a quarter of the Earth-Moon distance.
It’s little larger at about 23 ft./7 meters.
If you want to watch 2022 NF swing close to Earth visit the YouTube page of The Virtual Telescope Project or visit its website. During the stream, astronomer Gianluca Masi will use a 17-inch PlaneWave telescope.
It begins at 21:00 UTC (17:00 EST and 14:00 EST) on July 6, 2022.
2022 NE and 2022 NF were discovered on July 4, 2022 by the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) at Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii.
That was just two days before 2022 NE was scheduled to make its closest approach.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
