NASA announced that a celestial object will zoom past Earth later this month at an incredible speed but is not likely to be dangerous. The asteroid, which is named 7335 (1989 JA), will travel at the speed of 76,000 kilometers per hour.
The asteroid will be 2.5 million miles away from Earth, nearly 10 times the distance between our home planet and the moon. Even though the distance may seem too large, but is considered a close fly-by on a cosmic scale.
Also Read: Researchers believe a comet might have caused decline of Hopwell culture
NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies said in a statement that the asteroid will be near Eart on May 27, marking the closest approach of any heavenly object to Earth this year. The statement added that asteroid 7335 (1989 JA) is 1.8 kilometers in diameter, roughly four times the size of the Empire State Building in New York City.
The asteroid is currently far from taking a collision course with Earth and not be any trouble unless it changes its path, reports suggest.
Also Read: NASA’s Mars lander bites the dust, literally
Former NASA planetary scientist Don Yeomans said that the “object’s orbit and future positions are very well known so that the predicted Earth close approach distance on May 27 is also the minimum possible close approach on this date”, according to reports from Newsweek.
Asteroid 7335 (1989 JA) is one of 29,000 NEOs (Near-Earth Objects) that have been identified by various space agencies across the globe. Such objects are in close proximity to Earth and often pass its orbit at a distance of 30 million miles.
Also Read: Nostradamus predictions for 2022: Inflation, asteroid strike and global warming
Discovered by astronomer Eleanor “Glo” Helin in May 1989, this particular asteroid has been put into the Apollo-class category. This means it orbits our Sun and has close calls with our planet’s orbit too.