Home > Viral Biggest Asteroid of 2020 Flew Between Earth & Moon Undetected, Scientists Realised It 2 Days Later!



Biggest Asteroid of 2020 Flew Between Earth & Moon Undetected, Scientists Realised It 2 Days Later!

Biggest Asteroid of 2020 Flew Between Earth & Moon Undetected, Scientists Realised It 2 Days Later!

Asteroids fly past Earth all the time and thanks to the scientists, we know the exact time and all the necessary details. However,  in June, one huge asteroid flew so close to Earth that at one point of time, it was nearer to the planet than the moon. Also Read - Yes! Asteroids Killed The Dinosaurs And Not Volcanoes, Says Study; Researchers Say 'It's the Only Plausible Explanation'

But surprisingly, astronomers and scientists didn’t realise it until 2 days later! Only on June 7, scientists made this discovery when astronomers in Hawaii first noticed the huge asteroid.

Named as asteroid 2020 LD and measuring nearly 100 metres in diameter, the asteroid travelling at a speed of 60,826 miles per hour, came even closer to the earth than the moon on June 5.

So, considering its huge size, if 2020 LD had hit Earth, it could have caused extensive damage.

According to a report published in the Earth Sky, this is the biggest asteroid to have come within one lunar distance of Earth this year and biggest to have gotten this close since 2011.

It’s also the 9th largest asteroid ever to fly past Earth.

The European Space Agency (ESA), revealed that the space rock was just 0.8 lunar distances away from Earth, meaning if the moon is 384, 317 km away from Earth, asteroid 2020 LD 307,454 km away when it flew by.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

You may soon be able to ride to the edge of space from Alaska in a Balloon

Image
You may soon be able to ride to the edge of space from Alaska in a Balloon Florida-based startup firm Space Perspective plans to use the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Kodiak to serve as one of the launch sites for the vehicle, called the Spaceship Neptune A company wants to use an advanced balloon to fly customers from Earth’s surface in Alaska to the highest reaches of the planet’s atmosphere. Florida-based startup firm Space Perspective plans to use the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Kodiak to serve as one of the launch sites for the vehicle, called the Spaceship Neptune,  The Anchorage Daily News  reported on Sunday. The balloon rides will be manned by a flight crew taking eight passengers in a pressurized capsule suspended beneath a hydrogen balloon the size of a football stadium. Each passenger could pay an estimated $125,000 for a six-hour journey. Mark Lester, CEO of Alaska Aerospace Corp., said the high-altitude rides will be available from Kodiak in a few years and will support A
Read more

Committee recommends review of planetary protection policies

Image
Committee recommends review of planetary protection policies WASHINGTON — The NASA Advisory Council has recommended that NASA review its existing planetary protection guidelines to balance the needs of science and exploration, an effort that could set the stage for a similar revision at the international level. The council, during a two-day meeting at NASA Headquarters Dec. 10–11, adopted a recommendation calling on NASA to establish an interdisciplinary committee of experts to review the agency’s current requirements for preventing contamination of other worlds by NASA spacecraft as well as any contamination of the Earth by materials brought back from those worlds. “NASA should establish a multidisciplinary task force of experts from industry, the scientific community, and relevant government agencies, to develop U.S. policies that properly balance the legitimate need to protect against the harmful contamination of the Earth or other celestial bodies with the scientific, social, and e
Read more

NASA to use commercial launch vehicle for Europa Clipper

NASA to use commercial launch vehicle for Europa Clipper NASA to use commercial launch vehicle for Europa Clipper WASHINGTON — NASA is no longer considering launching the Europa Clipper mission on the Space Launch System, deciding instead to launch the spacecraft on a commercial rocket it will procure in the next year. During a Feb. 10 presentation at a meeting of NASA’s Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG), leaders of the Europa Clipper project said the agency recently decided to consider only commercial launch vehicles for the mission, and no longer support a launch of the spacecraft on the SLS. “We now have clarity on the launch vehicle path and launch date,” Robert Pappalardo, project scientist for Europa Clipper at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said. That clarity came in the form of a Jan. 25 memo from NASA’s Planetary Missions Program Office to “immediately cease efforts to maintain SLS compatibility” and move forwa
Read more