Sylvie Claire / January 15, 2022
Nasa is tracking an asteroid named 7482 (1994 PC1) that is larger than any building on our planet. Experts believe that the rock will pass at a distance of about 1.2 million kilometers from our planet.
The near-Earth asteroid 1994 PC1 (~1 km wide) is very well known and has been studied for decades by our #PlanetaryDefense experts, Nasa said.
Rest assured that 1994 PC1 will pass safely by our planet, 1.2 million kilometers away, next Tuesday, January 18.
Nasa is currently investigating methods to defend against any asteroids that have the potential to get too close to Earth. DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) is the first-ever mission dedicated to studying and demonstrating an asteroid deflection method, which involves altering the motion of an asteroid in space through a kinetic impact.
Earlier this week, a 104-meter wide asteroid passed in front of the Earth. It came within 3.48 million kilometers of our planet. Despite its impressive size, it was slightly too small to be considered a potentially dangerous object.