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On September 18, astronomers from the Mount Lemmon Survey (MLS) in Arizona found a previously undiscovered asteroid. The relatively small space rock was detected on its approach to Earth, of which it will have an “extremely close” encounter on Thursday, September 24.
Astronomers from MLS have named the asteroid 2020 SW, and it is estimated to be nearly 10 meters long.
The asteroid will pass a distance of just 0.07 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
According to observations, the asteroid is currently traveling at a speed of 7.7 kilometers per second.
This translates to 27,720 kilometers per hour, which while it may seem extremely fast by our standards, is almost three times slower than the average speed of an asteroid.
Astronomers have confirmed that the space rock will safely pass our planet.
Even if the asteroid’s path took it towards Earth, which will not happen, the rock would not pose a threat and would simply burn up in the atmosphere.
The Virtual Telescope Project said: “On September 24, 2020, Asteroid 2020 SW close to Earth will have an extremely close but safe encounter with us, reaching about 27,000 km from Earth, 7 percent of the average lunar distance.
“The near-Earth 2020 SW asteroid, discovered by MLS on September 18, 2020 and announced the next day by the Minor Planet Center, has an estimated diameter in the range of 4.3 to 9.7 meters (source: Nasa / JPL) “.
READ MORE: Asteroid News: Astronomers confirm that space rocks just brushed the Earth
Due to the proximity in which the asteroid will fly past Earth, NASA has designated 2020 SW as a Near Earth Object (NEO).
NASA has said: “NEOs are comets and asteroids that have been pushed by the gravitational pull of near planets into orbits that allow them to enter the vicinity of Earth.
“Scientific interest in comets and asteroids is due in large part to their condition as relatively unaltered remnants of the solar system’s formation process some 4.6 billion years ago.
“The giant outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) were formed from an agglomeration of billions of comets and the fragments and pieces left over from this formation process are the comets we see today.
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“Likewise, today’s asteroids are the pieces left over from the initial agglomeration of inner planets that include Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.”
According to NASA, it has now tracked more than 994,000 asteroids, and most of these are in the asteroid belt, located between Mars and Jupiter.
But the space agency has plans in place if an asteroid were to slam toward our planet.
NASA said: “What would we do if a NEO were found on a collision course with Earth?
“Could we deflect the asteroid to avoid impact? In collaboration with Aerospace Corp, the Center for Near Earth Object Studies has developed a NEO Deflection application, which examines the kinetic impactor deflection technique for a series of hypothetically striking asteroids. “
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