A Giant Asteroid Will Approach Earth in 2023. This is considered the closest approach of this celestial body to Earth since scientific data recording began.
Nasa scientists predict that the asteroid, measuring 150-320 meters in diameter, is heading towards Earth and will make its closest approach in October 2023, Newsweek reports.
Illustration of an asteroid approaching Earth. (Image: Newsweek).
Estimates indicate that the asteroid designated 1998 HH49, roughly the size of a cruise ship, will come within 1.2 million kilometers of Earth—three times the distance from Earth to the Moon.
Previously, the last time 1998 HH49 approached Earth was in 2021, but it was still over 64 million kilometers away at that time. NASA forecasts that this asteroid will only be closer to Earth than in 2023 during its 2163 approach—approximately 640,000 kilometers away.
When asteroids come within 7.4 million kilometers of Earth and have a diameter of 140 meters or more, they are classified as “potentially hazardous objects,” as is the case with asteroid 1998 HH49.
However, such classification does not imply that it poses an imminent threat.
“The classification simply means that over the centuries and millennia to come, the asteroid’s orbit could evolve and potentially affect Earth,” said Paul Chodas, director of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Research Center.
NASA notes that there are 30 “potentially hazardous” asteroids expected to approach Earth next year, but they are not likely to collide with Earth within the next century.
