The diameter of the celestial body is about 1 km or .6 of a mile, around 2 1/2 times the height of the Empire State Building.

On January 18, 2022, a massive asteroid the size of the Golden Gate Bridge will pass Earth. The asteroid presents no threat to Earth and will pass more than five times the distance between Earth and the moon during its closest approach.

Asteroid 7482 1994 PC1 was discovered on September 22, 1974, and belongs to the Apollo group. 

It makes one circle around the Sun in 572 Earth days or 1.57 Earth years, moving as far away from it as possible by 268 million kilometers and approaching 135 million kilometers.

Asteroid 7482 1994 PC1 is potentially dangerous.

On January 18, 2022, at 4:51 p.m. EST (21:51 UTC), the rock will make its closest approach to Earth. This will be the closest approach for this asteroid in at least the next 200 years, according to astronomers’ calculations.

The asteroid will pass Earth at a distance of 1.2 million miles (1.93 million kilometers), or about 5.15 times the distance between Earth and the Moon. That’s a safe distance, yet it’s close enough for a modest backyard telescope to see.

The massive space rock is hurtling at 43,754 miles per hour (19.56 kilometers per second) relative to Earth. Because of its high speed, amateur astronomers will be able to identify the speedy asteroid. Over the course of the evening, it will seem like a point of light, similar to a star, passing in front of background stars.

The brightness of asteroid (7482) 1994 PC1 will be approximately magnitude 10. A 10-magnitude object makes a good target for observers using a 6-inch or bigger backyard telescope from a dark sky location.

Image Credit: Getty

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