On August 12, a potentially dangerous asteroid 2015 FF will fly past Earth at 33,000 km/h - it has a diameter of 13-28 m and is the length of an adult blue whale

By: Maksim Panasovskiy | 11.08.2022, 15:49

The space agency NASA reports that a potentially dangerous asteroid, which is as long as a blue whale, will warm up to Earth on August 12th.

What we know

The celestial body is called 2015 FF. It will fly past our planet at a speed of 33,000 km/h. The diameter of the asteroid is 13-28 meters. The minimum distance between Earth and the space body will be 4.3 million km. This is almost an order of magnitude greater than the distance between the Earth and the Moon. However, in terms of space - it is very close.

The agency classifies all space objects that pass by our planet at a distance of less than 193 million kilometers, the category of "near-Earth. In this case, any fast-moving body at a distance of less than 7.5 million kilometers is considered "potentially hazardous". After registration of such objects experts begin to keep a detailed eye on them to monitor deviations from the trajectory, which could lead to a collision with the Earth.

We should add that NASA is tracking the asteroids under the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System program, or simply ATLAS. Experts use four telescopes that allow them to scan the entire sky every 24 hours. Since 2017, astronomers have recorded more than 700 asteroids that have been classified as near-Earth. Only 2019 MO and 2018 LA hit our planet. In the next 100 years, no collisions, which could lead to the death of mankind, are expected.

Source: Space