An asteroid called 2021 KT1 yesterday safely passed Earth, but it was seen very late—and it’s not the only space rock that will this week come close to your planet.
The reason why 2021 KT1 is news is that NASA estimates that it’s between 492 feet/150 meters and 1,082 feet/330 meters in diameter. It wasn’t observed until late in May 2021 just a week before its closest pass.
NASA says that anything 50 feet/150 meters or larger—so about twice the size of the Statue of Liberty—to be “potentially hazardous” if they get within 4.6 million miles/7.5 million kilometers.
2021 KT1 passed just a little closer than that, which technically makes it “potentially hazardous,” but it’s important to get this in context and grasp the size of our Earth-Moon system. The Moon is, on average, 238,855 miles/384,400 kilometers from Earth, so 2021 KT1 passed well beyond the orbit of our satellite. About 19 lunar distances from Earth, in fact.
It’s moving at over 11.2 miles/18.1 kilometers per second, or 37,282 miles/64,000 kilometers per hour and won’t be back until May 19, 2058.
What is an ‘Apollo’ asteroid?
2021 KT1 is classed as an “Apollo” asteroid. It’s one of a group of near-Earth asteroids named after the first one to be discovered, 1862 Apollo, in 1932. Apollo asteroids cross Earth’s orbit so they are of particular interest.
More close asteroids have been spotted
However, during May 2021 a smaller asteroid called 2021 GT3 got to within just 159,000 miles/256,000 kilometers of Earth. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) says that no fewer than four more asteroids will get close to Earth this week:
- June 2, 2021: the 63 feet/19 meters 2021 JW6 will get to within 1.9 million miles/3.1 million kilometers
- June 2, 2021: the 53 feet/16 meters 2021 KE1 will get to within 3.5 million miles/5.7 million kilometers
- June 3, 2021: the 140 feet/43 meters 2021 KN1 will get to within 1.4 million miles/2.3 million kilometers
- June 5, 2021: the 290 feet/88 meters 2021 KF2 will get to within 3.1 million miles/5 million kilometers
What is an asteroid and where do they come from?
Relatively small rocky bodies orbiting the Sun, asteroids come from the Asteroid Belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. They’re essentially the leftovers—the debris—from the formation of our Solar System.
How to see an asteroid
Asteroids are incredibly difficult to see with the naked eye, but a pair of binoculars can help you glimpse the very largest asteroids we know of. One example currently visible is Vesta.
Named after Roman mythology’s virgin goddess of home and hearth, Vesta is a whopper, measuring about 326 miles/525 kilometers in diameter.
It’s currently in the constellation of Leo, which hangs in the western sky after dark in the northern hemisphere. You can see it by following these charts on TheSkyLive.com, though you will need binoculars or a small telescope.
How dangerous is the asteroid belt?
Vesta is in the largest celestial body in the Solar System’s main asteroid belt. Does that sound like a dangerous place? It’s not. Despite C3PO claiming that “the chances of successfully navigating an asteroid field is approximately 3,720 to 1” in the Star Wars movie, these asteroids are very spread-out. The chances of hitting one is more like one in a billion.
When will a large asteroid strike Earth?
The odds of an asteroid hitting Earth are much larger, depending on the size; a 0.62 miles/1 kilometer asteroid is reckoned to hit Earth every 500,000 years, on average, while a massive 3 miles/5 kilomteter objects in a one-in-20 million years event.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
A ‘Potentially Hazardous’ Asteroid Just Soared Past Earth. It’s First Of Five That Will Get Close To Us This Week - Forbes
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