Asteroid as big as Giza Pyramid just flew past Earth

Asteroid as big as Giza Pyramid just flew past Earth

An asteroid about the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza just made a close flyby of Earth on July 25 as per NASA’s calculations. However, there’s nothing to worry about, but it could help the space agency to learn more about the early solar system because a change in their orbit could pose a risk of collision in the future.

The asteroid dubbed 2008 GO20, swung within 2.8 million miles of the Earth. It flew past at a ridiculous speed of 18,000 mph, as per the news reports. The asteroid is said to be around 318 to 720 feet across. Any space rock that is larger than 490 feet across and comes within 4.6 million miles of Earth is considered a potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA).

When is it coming back?

NASA’s Center of Near Earth Objects Studies keeps a close on all PHAs. To put things in context, that distance is 19.5 times the span between our planet and the moon.

The 2008 GO20 is considered a PHA because with time the gravitational tug of the planets could change the orbit of the space rock, making it cross Earth’s orbit. If that happens there is a possibility of a collision with Earth, NASA said.

This isn’t the first time 2008 GO20 has flown past Earth’s quarters. It made its closest approach on August 4, 1901, when it swung to 806,856 miles to our planet, states NASA’s records. The space rock made its next flyby on July 31, 1935, at a distance of 1.15 million miles of Earth. It is expected to next fly past our planet on July 24, 2034.

Saving Earth from asteroid strikes

Chinese researchers have proposed sending 20 rockets to simulate diverting potential hazardous asteroids away from Earth. Scientists at China’s National Space Science Centre simulated these events and learned that 23 Long March 5 rockets that weigh 900 tonnes when hit simultaneously could divert an asteroid from its original path by almost 9,000 km.

NASA is also working on a similar mission called HAMMER (Hypervelocity Asteroid Mitigation Mission for Emergency Response). But this approach is said to be costlier than China’s plan and will require 25 years prior warning before the collision, unlike China’s approach that only need a decade’s warning.

Disclaimer: The above article has been aggregated by a computer program and summarised by an Steamdaily specialist. You can read the original article at space
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