A kilometer-wide asteroid approaches Earth – but it will pass at a safe distance

A kilometer-wide asteroid – twice the size of the Empire State Building – is approaching Earth at an otherworldly speed: 76 thousand kilometers per hour.

It is about 7482 (1994 PC1) and will reach the point of closest approach to our planet next Tuesday, January 18th, when can be seen through a telescope common. The asteroid will appear in the skies as a small point of light and will still be visible at dawn on January 19th.

It will be the occasion when this asteroid will pass closer to Earth in the next 200 years. However, you don’t need to hoard food and look for the nearest bunker. In astronomical terms, proximity is very relative.

In fact, the 7482 (1994 PC1) will now 1.9 million kilometers of the Earth, which corresponds to a distance five times greater than that between the Earth and the Moon.

Although it is a completely safe visit, the asteroid, known to scientists since the 1970s, is classified as potentially dangerous due to its size, since Celestial bodies with these proportions collide with Earth every 600,000 years.

• Text: Express, POSTAL’s partner newspaper

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