'Extremely hazardous': At 94,000 kmph, asteroid to pass Earth on August 21

Asteroids have long been a source of concern for scientists worldwide, and a 4,500-foot-diameter object has joined the list as it approaches Earth. Asteroid 2016 AJ193 has been designated as potentially dangerous by NASA approaching Earth on the night of August 21.

While the asteroid will pass Earth from a distance nine times that of Earth and the Moon, it will be travelling at a breakneck speed of 94,208 kilometres per hour. Astronomers will use telescopes to observe the 1.4-kilometre-wide asteroid as it moves by Earth in its orbit.

Also Read | Asteroid ‘2008 GO20’, 3 times the size of Taj Mahal, to whizz past Earth on July 25

The possibly dangerous object will pass near to Earth again in 2063. The space agency has forecast its orbital path and believes it will cause no harm to the planet this time. The asteroid was discovered in January 2016 by the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) facility at Haleakala Observatory in Hawaii, and NASA utilised the NEOWISE mission to examine it.

Astronomers discovered that the asteroid is entirely black (not particularly reflective), and that its rotation period, pole orientation, and spectral class are all unknown, according to EarthSky.

The asteroid circles the Sun every 5.9 years, passing very near Earth's orbit before moving beyond Jupiter's orbit. 

On July 25, another asteroid passed the Earth, but it was three times the size of the Taj Mahal. According to NASA, the asteroid '2008 GO20,' approximately 220 metres in diameter, made its closest approach to Earth on July 25 at roughly 3 a.m. (IST).

• NASA
• Asteroid
• Earth