The US space agency NASA has classified the celestial body as an Apollo-class object – potentially dangerous.
The asteroid 7482 (1994 PC1) is on its way to Earth. It will be nearly five times the distance between the Earth and the Moon, at a distance of slightly under 2 million kilometers from the planet. NASA revealed this on Thursday, January 13.
It has an average diameter of 1,052 meters. According to NASA, the asteroid falls within the category of “potentially dangerous” objects.
However, the agency informed that it would not represent a threat to the earth for at least the next hundred years.
Near-Earth #asteroid 1994 PC1 (~1 km wide) is very well known and has been studied for decades by our #PlanetaryDefense experts. Rest assured, 1994 PC1 will safely fly past our planet 1.2 million miles away next Tues., Jan. 18.
— NASA Asteroid Watch (@AsteroidWatch) January 12, 2022
Track it yourself here: https://t.co/JMAPWiirZh pic.twitter.com/35pgUb1anq
The asteroid’s approaching visit to Earth will be its closest since early 1933, when it was less than 1.1 thousand kilometers from the planet, NASA reported.
NASA also stated that the asteroid will pass Earth at a much greater distance in July of this year. According to agency predictions, the next time it will approach the earth will be on January 18, 2105, at a distance of 23,000 kilometers.
Image Credit: NASA
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