The space rock, named 7482 (1994 PC1), is more than twice the size of the Empire State Building in New York, and will pass close to Earth on January 18.
The space rock, called 7482 (1994 PC1), does not pose a threat to Earth, as it will be five times farther from the planet than the Moon, as it is moving at 43,000 mph, reported Daily Mail. This rock is 3,280 feet in diameter, and after its close passage on January 18, 2022 at 4:51 p.m. ET (21:51 GMT), it will not come close to Earth again until the year 2105.
According to NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), it is a ‘potentially dangerous object’ as it crosses Earth’s orbit as it travels around the Sun.
It will be magnitude 10 when zoomed in, which will put it out of the reach of the naked eye and most binoculars, but it should be visible with a backyard telescope.
“An asteroid of this size hits Earth approximately every 600,000 years,” EarthSky indicated.
As revealed by the New York Post, this enormous body “was discovered on August 9, 1994, hence its designation, by Robert McNaught at the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia.”
As NASA explains on its page, “Near-Earth objects are asteroids and comets with orbits that take them within 120 million miles (195 million kilometers) of the Sun, which means they can circulate through Earth’s orbital neighborhood. Most of the near-Earth objects are asteroids that range in size from about 10 feet (a few meters) to nearly 25 miles (40 kilometers) across. “
And he adds that “the orbit of each object is calculated by finding the elliptical path through space that best fits all available observations, often spanning many orbits over many years or decades. As more observations are made, the Accuracy of an object’s orbit is vastly improved and it is possible to predict where an object will be years or even decades into the future, and whether it could get close to Earth. “
FOUNTAIN: With information from Daily Mail / New York Post / EarthSky / NASA