Free Republic

The asteroid, known as 7482 (1994 PC1), is set to fly by the planet at 1:51 p.m. PT, traveling at a speed of about 43,754 mph, according to NASA. “Near-Earth #asteroid 1994 PC1 (~1 km wide) is very well known and has been studied for decades by our #PlanetaryDefense experts,” With a diameter of approximately 3,451 feet, the asteroid is more than twice the size of the Empire State Building. And while there’s no threat that the asteroid will hit our planet, NASA still considers it a “potentially hazardous object” due to a combination of size and distance from Earth....

The asteroid's orbit gets quite close to our moon's. (NASA/JPL) ************************************************************************** In a slow-moving universe, asteroids give us a rare chance to see things moving in real time. We have such a chance coming right up on the evening of Tuesday, January 18th, when 1.1-kilometer asteroid (7482) 1994 PC1 passes 1.23 million miles (1.98 million kilometers) from Earth. This is about five times the distance from Earth to the Moon, and just a shade over the distance to the anti-sunward Earth-Sun Lagrange 2 point, soon to be the home of the James Webb Space Telescope. Fortunately, both Earth and said...

Image of asteroid (7482) 1994 PC1 taken during a flyby of Earth in 1997. (Sormano Astronomical Observatory) ===================================================================== A large, rocky asteroid is going to fly by Earth next week. At 1 kilometer (3,280 feet) long, it's roughly two and a half times the height of the Empire State Building, and it's been classed a "Potentially Hazardous Asteroid" due to its size and its regular close visits to our planet. But don't worry, this month's visit is going to have a very safe clearance, with the asteroid zipping by at a distance of 1.93 million kilometers (~1.2 million miles) away...