A “potentially hazardous” enormous asteroid, which is reportedly twice the size of Burj Khalifa, is likely to fly past earth on May 27 (Friday), NASA’s Centre for Near Earth Object Studies said. While we here on earth dealing with our problems and another year of COVID pandemic, things are also happening in the celestial world. A “potentially hazardous” enormous asteroid, which is reportedly twice the size of Burj Khalifa, will fly past earth on May 27 (Friday).
NASA, however, is vigilantly watching the skies for any near-Earth objects that might threaten our planet, whether on a small, regional, or planetary scale. Asteroids, often small, regularly whizz by Earth — which in space terms still means a few million miles away. On May 27, the space agency lists a “close approach” for a 1.1-mile-wide asteroid labeled “7335 (1989 JA).” It will pass us at a distance of about 2.5 million miles.
It’s not a threat to Earth. If it were, NASA would issue an official warning to the White House and other government agencies — which is something the space agency has never needed to do.
Like most objects big or bright enough to be visible from millions of miles away, (7335) 1989 JA appears as a bright dot against the background of stars. In the image below from May 23, the rock is some 3.6 million miles away. (The Virtual Telescope Project captured a closer image of the asteroid on May 25, from some 2.8 million miles away, but at such a distance it looks similar.)
