2022 AP7, one and a half kilometers in diameter, is the largest potentially dangerous asteroid for Earth discovered in the last eight years.
An international team of astronomers at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile has identified for the first time three large nearby asteroids, until now hidden from the Sun’s glare.
One of them is the largest potentially Earth-threatening asteroid discovered in the last eight years. It is about “2022 AP7“, one and a half kilometers in diameter, whose orbit may at some point cross that of our planet.
The other two, about one kilometer in diameter, are “2021 LJ4” and “2021 PH27”, whose orbits are estimated to remain far from the Earth’s “path” in the sky.
“2021 PH27” is the closest to the Sun asteroid that has been found so far and it is considered possible that during its orbit, when it comes very close to our star, its surface becomes so hot that it can melt lead.
The three space rocks belong to a population of asteroids that move in the inner solar system, between the Sun and the orbits of Earth and Venus.
This is a very difficult area for astronomical observations, as ground-based telescopes are “blinded” by the glow of our star, while space ones are completely unable to observe, as their electronics would be burned by solar radiation. Thus, to date only 25 asteroids have been observed with orbits completely between the Earth and the Sun.
NASA has calculated the orbits of nearly all near-Earth objects beyond the end of the 21st century, and so far no celestial hazards appear to emerge for at least the next 100 years.
If, alas, such a prospect of an asteroid falling to Earth arises, space-based deterrent technologies are already being tested as part of planetary defense, with the first test not long ago having been crowned with success.
The “Halloween Asteroid” will approach Earth tomorrow
A newly discovered asteroid, “2022 RM4”, which is the size of a skyscraper and also belongs to the category of potentially dangerous for the future, will make a close pass of the Earth on November 1st.
The so-called “Halloween asteroid” (celebrated on the night of October 31 mainly in Anglo-Saxon countries) has an estimated diameter of 330 to 740 meters and will pass at a speed of 84,500 kilometers per hour at a distance of 2.3 million kilometers from our planet, or about six times greater than the average Earth-Moon distance, according to the American Space Agency (NASA).
The latter classifies as a “near-Earth object” any celestial body that approaches at a distance of less than 193 million km, and as “potentially dangerous” any large body that reaches a distance of less than 7.5 million km. Anything that receives this designation, in it is constantly being watched by astronomers for a possible change in its orbit, which could bring it into a catastrophic collision with our planet.
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