Small asteroid to shoot closely past Earth on Friday

(Representational image)

New Delhi: The Earth has had many close encounters with asteroids that have conveniently and thankfully missed colliding with our planet by just a tiny distance.

Well, the space circuit and the cyberspace are buzzing with the news of another asteroid encounter that is set to happen on Friday, February 9.

The asteroid in question is estimated to measure somewhere between 15 and 30 metres and will whizz past Earth quite safely, according to NASA.

The celestial object's – designated asteroid 2018 CB – encounter with our home planet is scheduled to take place at around 5:30 pm EST (4:00 am Saturday IST), at a distance of about 64,000 kilometres, which is less than one-fifth the distance of Earth to the Moon.

"Although 2018 CB is quite small, it might well be larger than the asteroid that entered the atmosphere over Chelyabinsk, Russia, almost exactly five years ago, in 2013," said Paul Chodas of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

"Asteroids of this size do not often approach this close to our planet – maybe only once or twice a year," Chodas said.

What is interesting to note is that the asteroid was discovered by astronomers at the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) in Arizona very recently – on February 4.

Another asteroid discovered by CSS on the same day passed by Earth on Tuesday.

Asteroid 2018 CC was estimated to be between 15 and 30 metres in size.

Its close approach to Earth came at 3.10 p.m. EST at a distance of about 184,000 kilometres, NASA said.

(With IANS inputs)