- The asteroid approached our planet for the last time in 2015, it will do so again tomorrow and in 2029 it will return.
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| The asteroid will be 3,241,785 kilometers away from Earth tomorrow. |
An asteroid between 350 and 780 meters in diameter is approaching Earth at a speed of 10.39 kilometers, according to NASA. Although the chances of it crashing into us are "minimal", it is expected that tomorrow, April 28, it will reach its closest approach to our planet.
The US Space Agency has listed the asteroid '2008 AG33' as "potentially dangerous". However, this does not mean that it will collide with the Earth, but rather that it will come closer than others usually do.
According to estimates made by NASA, the Apollo-type asteroid will reach its closest approach to Earth tomorrow at 11:46 (10:46 in the Canary Islands). Specifically, it is estimated that the '2008 AG33' will position itself 3,241,785 kilometers away.
The asteroid '2008 AG33'
The asteroid was first observed on September 27, 2003. However, January 12, 2008, was the date it was discovered by the Lemmon Survey. Since then, NASA researchers haven't figured out exactly how big they are, but they estimate their diameter to be between 350 and 750 meters.
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| The asteroid passes close to Earth every 7 years. / Pixabay |
The last time that '2008 AG33' passed so close to Earth was approximately 7 years ago: on March 1, 2015. Tomorrow it will pass again and it is estimated that it will pass again in May 2029. The fact that its orbit passes so close to Earth every 7 years makes NASA classify it as an Apollo asteroid.
In the event that the asteroid collided with our planet, it would not cause extinction. “Actually, we are not talking about a global extinction event, but a rather regional devastation,” explained Nancy Chabot, a scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. According to the expert, "a clash could end a city or even a small state."
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