An asteroid is set to pass by Earth on October 24 at 9:17 PM IST, NASA has revealed. This near-Earth object (NEO), named 363305 (2002 NV16), measures around 175 metres in size, roughly comparable to a large building. It is travelling at a speed of 17,542 kmph.
The asteroid will come within 4.52 million kilometres of Earth, which is over 11 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon (384,400 kilometres). Despite being classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA) due to its size and proximity, NASA assures there is no risk of collision during this flyby.
One of the key tasks of keeping an eye on NEOs is the planetary defence program carried out by NASA, which focuses on cataloguing near-Earth asteroids and comets.
Recently, Asteroid 2024 TY21 flew past the Earth on October 19. The asteroid was observed to have passed at a safe distance of about 1.35 million kilometres away from Earth. This distance is considered safe and does not pose any kind of threat to our planet. It is estimated that the asteroid has a diameter of around 40 feet, which is similar to that of a bus.
NEOs are categorised as either asteroids or comets that are capable of approaching the sun to a distance of 195 million kilometres, which is the vicinity of Earth’s orbits. The majority of NEOs are asteroids which vary in size from a few metres to about 40 kilometres in diameter. Some of them, the PHAs, deserve special attention since these are asteroids larger than 460 feet (140 metres) and approaching the Earth’s orbit.
NASA is actively developing missions aimed at asteroid deflection and mitigation:
DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test): This mission is intended to prove asteroid deflection technology by smashing a spacecraft into an asteroid.
NEO Surveyor: An envisioned future space telescope to discover and categorise most of the potentially threatening NEOs by distance up to 30 million miles.
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