This asteroid just missed Earth. Here is all about it.
The asteroid, named Asteroid 2022 OE2, flew past Earth in the early hours of August 4 at 12:23 p.m. ET.
Although NASA astronomers monitor all near-Earth objects (NEOs) for any potential danger to Earth, asteroid 2022 OE2 managed to evade them and was discovered just a couple of days ago. The asteroid passed by the Earth at a distance of almost 5.1 million kilometers.
Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) are monitored by NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office, which monitors the sky with telescopes and tracks upcoming flybys. Tracking these NEOs has become relatively easy with the advancement of technology. With the help of advanced telescopes, more than 750,000 asteroids have been discovered so far, of which more than 27,000 are near-Earth asteroids.
The asteroid was between 557 and 1,246 feet across, which is twice the length of an American football field. It was confirmed to belong to the Apollo group of asteroids, which are near-Earth asteroids (NEA) with perihelion distances less than 1.017 AU and semi-major axis greater than 1 AU.
It’s not the first time an asteroid has passed close to Earth this year. On May 9, asteroid 467460 (2006 JF42) passed close to Earth. Then, on April 28, asteroid 418135 (2008 AG33) passed by our planet. Just a couple of days ago, an asteroid named Asteroid 2022 OX3 passed very close to Earth at 18:45 on August 2nd.