Asteroid with a diameter of more than 340 meters is approaching the Earth - NASA

An asteroid the size of a cruise ship will come so close to Earth by the end of this decade that it can be seen with the naked eye by millions of people from different continents.

Writes CNN citing NASA's Near-Earth Object Research Center, reports UNN.

Details

A rare phenomenon: an asteroid with a diameter of 340 to 375 meters will come closer to our planet than the satellites in its orbit, and 10 times closer than the Moon. The space body will come so close that it can be seen with the naked eye millions of people in Europe, Africa and parts of Asia. Astronomers believe that an asteroid of this size approaches Earth only once every 5,000-10,000 years.

Reference

Asteroid Apophis, officially known as 99942 Apophis, is a near-Earth object discovered in 2004. It has a diameter of about 340 meters and is named after Apophis, the Egyptian god of chaos. Interest in this asteroid is due to its trajectory, which at one time seemed to have a significant probability of colliding with Earth in the future.

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Apophis will pass just 32,000 kilometers from Earth, a distance that has made NASA wary because it will be at a shorter distance than some satellites in orbit. While it seems unlikely that it will crash into the planet, a slight chance does exist.

Plans of international research organizations

ESA and NASA plan to take advantage of the unique space event of the approach of asteroid Apophis to better understand what happens when space rocks interact with Earth's gravity. Each agency will send a spacecraft to follow the asteroid.

Recall

Earlier UNN reported that the asteroid, originally named Sar2736 and now registered as 2024 BX1, was spotted over Berlinom.