A massive, 150-foot asteroid is set to make a very close approach to Earth today. While much time and attention has been showered on Asteroid 2024 YR4, which was expected to crash on Earth in 2032, with an over 3% strike chance, this space rock has not attracted much attention, even though it is big and powerful and carries a lot of potential for destruction.
However, before you decide it is time to worry, NASA has made it clear that this asteroid will actually fly by Earth and has virtually no chance of crashing on it event hough it will come mighty close. YR4 too, now has near-zero chance of striking Earth, according to NASA.
NASA has named the one approaching Earth today as Asteroid 2025 CV1 and its closest approach to our planet will be at 3,920,000 miles. While that may sound like a big gap, in astronomical terms, this is a near-miss.
According to NASA's Small-Body Database Lookup, Asteroid 2025 CV1 is a space rock that belongs to the Apollo group and it has been dubbed as a near-Earth object (NEO) because of the close approach to Earth.
NASA says NEOs can be asteroids or comets whose orbits take them to within 120 million miles of the Sun. That actually indicates these NEOs can come through the Earth's neighborhood. Most NEOs are asteroids and very few are comets. Their size varies from around 10 feet to nearly 25 miles wide.
Asteroid 2025 CV1 is travelling at a speed of 23115 miles per hour.
NASA has been using space-based telescopes like NEOWISE to detect asteroids. But NEOWISE is now retired. To replace it will be NEO Surveyor. NASA says it is the first made-to-order space telescope whose purpose will be to hunt asteroids that may be potential hazards to Earth.
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