Two dangerous asteroids are approaching Earth: when they will pass our planet
On Wednesday, December 4, two potentially hazardous asteroids 447755 (2007JX2) and 2020XR will fly past the Earth. The first will approach our planet at a distance of 5.5 million km, and the second will fly closer - 2.2 million km.
This was reported by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). It is noted that the asteroid 2007JX2 is 402.3 meters long, that is, almost as tall as the Empire State Building.
The distance from it to Earth will be 5,532,113 km.
Asteroid 2007JX2.
Source: eyes.nasa.gov
The second asteroid, 2020XR, is 387.7 meters long. Its distance to the planet will be 2,209,287 km.
Asteroid 2020XR.
Source: eyes.nasa.gov
Both objects, 2007 JX2 and 2020 XR, originated in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The strong gravity of Jupiter can disrupt the orbits of nearby asteroids and cause them to be pulled out of the belt and into a trajectory that crosses the Earth's orbit. In addition, collisions between asteroids can eject them from the belt and potentially send them into the inner part of the Solar System.
It should be noted that NASA considers asteroids to be "potentially hazardous objects" (PHOs) if they approach the Earth at a distance closer than 7.5 million kilometers and their size exceeds 150 meters.
Fortunately, neither of these two asteroids actually poses any threat to our planet despite their frightening classification, Newsweek reports. NASA keeps an eye on every large asteroid that comes even a little close to our planet to make sure it doesn't pose a danger.
"The more we observe [asteroids], the better our calculations are for predicting future close-approaches," said Gretchen Benedix, an astrogeologist at Australia's Curtin University.
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