While it may sound like something from a tabloid, it isn’t, there is a massive asteroid heading towards Earth. And it is predicted to zoom past Earth on January 18, 2022.
And while this may sound a bit scary, thankfully, it should be a safe pass. The asteroid is estimated to be around 3,280 feet and 2 1/2 times the height of the Empire State Building. The asteroid is named asteroid (7482) 1994 PC1, and scientists have known about its existence since 1994.
Currently, the asteroid is categorized as a ‘potentially hazardous asteroid’ because it is so large, and because it makes pretty close encounters with Earth.
Newsweek reports the asteroid will make a very close approach to Earth at a distance of 0.013 astronomical units on January 18, citing NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies.
Thankfully, this is a distance of around 1.2 million miles, which means it will be five times as far from Earth as the moon is.
EarthSky reports that an asteroid of roughly the same size impacts Earth once every 600,000 years. Thankfully, this particular asteroid shouldn’t prove dangerous to us.
What’s even better, is if you like sky watching, you can view this object by use of a telescope. You should be able to view it around 4:51 PM EST.
Asteroid (7482) 1994 PC1 was discovered in 1994 by Robert McNaught at the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia. And after further inspection, scientists found images of it dating as far back as September of 1974.
The last time the object approached us was around 89 years ago, when it made another close, but safe approach. According to Science Alert, it won’t approach us again until 2105.
The asteroid looks similar to a star to scientists observing the object, and it moves around 47,754 miles per hour.
To view the object for yourself, you can use the stars as a point of reference, and you will notice the light pass in front of them. Since it shines at a magnitude 10, it should be a pretty bright target for those using backyard telescopes.