Written in SCIENCE he
Today, sunday march 19 he potentially dangerous asteroid called 2016 WH will pass very close to Land, because the star reaches its closest point of the terrestrial orbit on this day. Next, we detail what time It will exactly approach our home, if we are in any danger and why it is classified within this category.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (POT) currently has knowledge of more than 1.1 million asteroids that pass through our Solar System, and even thousands more of these irregularly shaped rocky bodies are discovered every month, but the agency pays special attention to those that fall into the category of potentially dangerouswhich are the ones that come very close to the orbit of the Land and if they collide they could generate a mass extinction event.
Therefore, today March, 19 the POT closely follow the potentially dangerous asteroid 2016 WH because this day is when it will get closer to the Earth around the 5:21 p.m. of central Mexico time, at a distance of 6.9 million kilometers from our planet, although it will not pass as close as 2020 GQ, the rocky body that up to now is the one that has come closest to our home without impacting us. This happened on August 16, 2020, at a speed of 44,000 kilometers per hour, just 2,950 kilometers above the southern Indian Ocean.
The approach of the potentially dangerous asteroid 2020 GQ that almost hit the Earth on August 20, 2020 was not even sighted by the POT with time, but that it was discovered only 6 hours before it brushed against us, and that is that it came from the direction of the Sun, although fortunately, even if it had collided, it would not have caused considerable damage to the planet since it only had a diameter of 3 to 6 meters, so much of it would have burned up in the atmosphere.
Others potentially dangerous asteroids that will pass very close to the Land in the coming months are “2007 FH1” which has a diameter of 232 to 518 meters and is the largest body so far discovered that will approach our planet. The second closest and largest is the 2022 WH15 which has a diameter of 149 to 334 meters and the third to fall into this category is the 2016 CL136.
The potentially dangerous asteroids are those rocky bodies that approach the Land at a distance of 0.05 AU (approximately 7.5 million kilometers) and that have a diameter of at least 140 meters, with which, due to their size, colliding with our planet could cause considerable damage to life. According to the POT, of all the asteroids, 20% of them fall into the category of dangerous for our home. The 2016 WH is one of them.
However, although the asteroid 2016 W.H. is listed as potentially dangerousthe POT ensures that today it does not represent a risk of impact against the Earth, and even, of the rocky bodies that the organism has identified in this category, none presents an imminent danger to the planet, at least not in the next 100 years.
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