Largest potentially dangerous asteroid discovered in the past eight years
A new ‘planet killer’ class dangerous asteroid has been discovered that hides in the light of the sun and approaches Earth.
Measuring about 1.5 km in size, the asteroid has the potential to collide with Earth in the future if not immediately, making it the largest potentially dangerous asteroid discovered in the past eight years.
According to the American Association of Astronomy Research Universities (AURA), an international research team led by astronomer Dr. Scott Shepard of the Earth and Planets Laboratory at the Carnegie Institute for Science has found three near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) hidden inside the solar system and published the results of their discovery in the Astronomy Journal. ‘ (The Astronomical Journal).
The research team found these asteroids using the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) mounted on the Victor M. Blanco telescope with an aperture of 4 meters at the Cerro Tololo Observatory in Chile.
Of these, the 1.5km-sized ‘2022 AP7’ is unknown when it will be, but it appears to have an orbit that intersects the Earth’s orbit.
The other two asteroids, ‘2021 LJ4’ and ‘2021 PH27’, orbit the sun only inside the Earth’s orbit, so there is no risk of a collision with the Earth.
In particular, 2021 PH27 is the closest asteroid to the sun, and it has been suggested that the surface temperature is hot enough to melt lead if it is present.
Dr. Shepard said, “This expedition focused on the Earth and Venus orbital regions and found two large, near-Earth asteroids, which are over 1 km in size and called ‘planet killers’. can,” he said.
The planet killer asteroid has the power to collapse a civilization by creating a crater of 10 km or longer when it collides with the Earth.
It is said that asteroids inside the solar system are very difficult to observe due to the sunlight.
This is evidenced by the fact that only 25 asteroids have been found inside the Earth so far.
The research team found these asteroids by observing the sky near the horizon using two brief moments a day that lasted only about 10 minutes in the twilight light before sunset or sunrise.
It is said that this was possible because DECam, equipped with advanced performance, provided images that captured even faint celestial objects over a wide area.
“There aren’t many asteroids inside the solar system, so they’re dim, so we need broad and deep images, and we also have to fight the bright light of the sun and the thick atmosphere of the Earth, which hinders observation,” said Dr. Shepard. “By allowing us to observe wide and deep areas, we have been able to explore the interior of the solar system in ways we have never been able to before.”
The research team expects that this study will serve as an opportunity to broaden our understanding of the distribution of asteroids in the solar system, in addition to finding additional dangerous asteroids that can pose a potential threat to Earth.
/yunhap news