Asteroid 2007 FFI, greater the size of the Empire State Building, to fly past Earth on April fool's day 2022
A 260-meter-wide asteroid known as 2007 FF1, on April 1, will pass by at a distance of 74,23,046 kilometres, making its closest approach.
The coming month will begin with a somewhat cosmic event, as another asteroid will make its closest approach to Earth on April 1. Following the Centre for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), the asteroid named 2007 FF1 will fly by Earth from a distance of approximately 74,23,046 kilometers. The asteroid has been labelled 'potentially hazardous' due to its size and distance from our planet; however, it poses no threat to our planet.
About the space rock, as per NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the 2007 FF1 made its previous approach in 2020, which monitors near-earth objects (NEOs) such as asteroids and comets. The NEO was approximately 1,73,42,881 kilometers from Earth, significantly greater than the distance predicted for the upcoming visit. Even JPL unveil an orbital map displaying the asteroid's path through our solar system. When an object is discovered to be located less than 1.3 times the distance from Earth to the Sun, the object is categorised as NEO.
The asteroid was learned in March 2007 when it was discovered cruising through space at a speed of 39,348 kilometers per hour, as per CNEOS. Oddly, the asteroid's next flyby is estimated in August 2035, when it will revisit our solar system from a distance of 1,14,41,245 kilometers from the Earth. The latest approach comes just a week after the agencies announced the discovery of another potentially hazardous asteroid greater than the size of the Empire State Building.
About Asteroid 2013 BO76
The approaching asteroid comes just a week after the asteroid 2013 BO76, larger than the Empire State Building, flew by. It measured 450 meters across, was 51,11,759 kilometers away, and flew at a speed of 49,513 kilometers per hour. As per the JPL, its previous trip to the solar system was in 2013; it would be next seen in July 2033. Tracking asteroids is more important than ever, especially in light of the asteroid 2022 EB5, which crashed on a Norwegian island nearly 470 kilometers east of Greenland and northeast Iceland.
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