A massive asteroid will pass by Earth on Tuesday [View all]
A "potentially hazardous" asteroid bigger than any building in the world will pass by Earth on Tuesday. Not only is it the biggest known asteroid coming within 2.3 million miles of Earth this year, but it's so massive that you might be able to see it in the sky.
The asteroid, named 1994 PC1, has an estimated width of 3,600 feet, nearly 1,000 feet longer than the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest building in the world. There are over 27,000 known near-Earth objects, which are any space debris that comes within 120.8 million miles of Earth. However, 1994 PC1 is one of 885 near-Earth objects at least 3,280 feet wide. It is one of several massive asteroids to pass by Earth in recent weeks.
First discovered in Aug. 1994, 1994 PC1 is classified as a "potentially hazardous" asteroid because it is an Apollo asteroid, meaning it crosses Earth's orbit.
If it were to hit Earth, it would cause "complete catastrophe" and destroy nearly everything within a 25 mile radius of the impact, says Franck Marchis, Chief Scientific Officer at Unistellar and Senior Planetary Astronomer at the SETI Institute.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2022/01/13/massive-potentially-hazardous-asteroid-zoom-past-earth/9178074002/
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