Asteroid 2010 WC9 just went between Earth and Moon: Did you know
New Delhi : Did you know that the lost Asteroid 2019 WC9 just flew past Earth? The phenomena went unnoticed by many of us. Scientists reports that the asteroid made a safe distance from Earth at 6:05 p.m. EDT at a distance of about 126,000 miles which is nearly half the distance between our planet and its moon. The asteroid measuring 130 metres in diameter and moved faster than a bullet, rushed past Earth at speed of 29,000 miles per hour.
Scientists estimated that this asteroid is larger than the size of a cricket field and just flew past Earth from a safe distance. Good news is that the massive object went past the Earth without causing any harm. “We knew enough not to be worried,” said Dr. Paul Chodas, director of the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. An asteroid roughly the size of 2010 WC9 collides with Earth only about once every 6,000 years, Chodas said. “There are no objects that have been identified that are known to be on a collision course with Earth.”
As previously reported, this long-lost asteroid was initially spotted by the expert team during “Catalina Sky Survey at the University of Arizona” on 30th November way back in the year 2010. It was in notice for over till December 2010 after which it became fainted. However, the asteroid has now become visible after eight long years on 8th May, 2018 and its activity had created curiosity among researchers.
Researchers had already mentioned that the asteroid would not hit the Earth. The 2010 WC9 is arriving within about “0.53 lunar-distances” from our planet. It is quite predictable that the asteroid would pass somewhere midway in between the moon and the Earth.
The asteroid was reportedly imaged twice. It was initially seen on 9th May when it was temporarily called ZJ99C60. The experts, however, could not comprehend the asteroid completely and again observed it on 10th May and named it as 2010 WC9. The asteroid 2010 WC9 of “18th magnitude” appears to be faint. However, it is rapidly brightening and is expected to get even brighter than eleventh magnitude when it is at the closest distance to the Earth.
This would reportedly be the 2nd time in thirty days for an asteroid body to fly at this proximity to our planet. On 15th April, an asteroid body known as 2018 GE3 was observed flying past the Earth from around 119,500 miles.
Experts mentioned that the asteroid 2010 WC9 is even larger than that of the “Chelyabinsk meteor” that had injured near about one thousand people and had wrecked glasses on its breaking up atop Chelyabinsk in Russia in the year 2013. However, the 2010 WC9 would not cause any damage to the Earth and we are out of danger, as of now.
