Asteroid 2011 ES4 to pass by earth at a distance much closer than moon
New Delhi : NASA has revealed that asteroid 2011 ES4 will be passing by the Earth in September at a much closer distance than the moon.
2011 ES4, listed on the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS)'s 'Close Approaches' database, is likely to cross earth on September 1 at around 10:49 A.M. EDT.
The asteroid will be flying at 0.00048 astronomical units away or about 44,618 miles at a speed of 18,253 miles per hour.
Measuring 22 meters to 49 meters in diameter, NASA considered the asteroid as 'Potentially Hazardous', although the space agency has maintained that it does not poses any threat to Earth due to its small sized diameter.
NASA says, "Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) are currently defined based on parameters that measure the asteroid’s potential to make threatening close approaches to the Earth. Specifically, all asteroids with a minimum orbit intersection distance (MOID) of 0.05 au or less and an absolute magnitude (H) of 22.0 or less are considered PHAs."
On the other hand, Asteroid 2020ND will fly past the Earth on July 24. Measuring 130 m-280 m in diameter, the Asteroid 2020ND is bigger than London Eye. Travelling at a speed of 13.5 kilometres per second or 48,000 kilometres per hour, the asteroid will come within just 0.034 astronomical units (AU) of the earth.
