JAKARTA, KOMPAS.TV – An asteroid the size of the TransJakarta bus or measuring 20 meters will pass close to Earth tonight, Sunday (2/1/2022) at 23.08 WIB.
Researcher from the Center for Science and Space from the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (Lapan) of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Andi Pangerang, said the asteroid, named 2021 YK, passed close to Earth at a distance of almost half the distance from Earth to the Moon.
According to him, the asteroid 2021 YK was first observed on December 27, 2021.
“This asteroid will pass near Earth on January 2, 2022 at 16.08 UT or 23.08 WIB at a fairly close distance, which is 190,000 kilometers,” he said, quoted by Antara. Kompas.com from page lapan.go.id, Sunday (2/1/2021).
Andi added that the asteroid 2021 YK orbits the Sun for 546 days with an inclination of 0.27 degrees and an elongation of 0.306 or 1.5 times the orbit of Mercury.
The speed of Asteroid 2021 YK is estimated to reach a speed of 25,300 kilometers per hour, or nearly 21 times the speed of sound in air.
“This asteroid belongs to the Apollo family of asteroids, because its average distance is greater than the average distance from Earth to the Sun (149.6 million km), but its closest distance is smaller than the farthest distance from Earth to the Sun (152.1 million km). ),” said Andi.
Asteroid 2021 YK, continued Andi, does not include a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA).
Because, the size of this asteroid is smaller than 300 meters or equivalent to an absolute brightness of +22. According to Andi, this is nothing to worry about.
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