Asteroid 2008 OS7 Hurls Towards Earth, Football-Pitch Size Potentially Hazardous Rock Coming

Isaiah Richard, Tech Times 01 February 2024, 04:02 am

The space rock known as Asteroid 2008 OS7 is hurling past the home planet later this week. It is known as a potentially hazardous asteroid as NASA regards it. Moreover, what makes this asteroid the center of attention is its massive size, regarded by the space agency as a "football pitch-sized" space rock that will make a fly-by past the Earth soon.

The good news is it is not in a direct collision course with the planet, and it is not expected to hurl small fragments into the Earth as it passes by.

Asteroid 2008 OS7 to Fly By the Earth this Friday

STV News reported that NASA regarded a new asteroid to fly by Earth this Friday, Feb. 2, at 2:41 PM (GMT), at a safe distance of 1,770,000 miles from the planet. It was classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid as its orbit intersects with the Earth but was also said to be a small space rock that would make it fly by.

According to Dr. Minjae Kim, a researcher from the University of Warwick's Department of Physics, "We don't need to worry about it too much as this asteroid will not enter Earth's atmosphere, while this will still approach close to the Earth."

Additionally, Asteroid 2008 OS7 makes a complete orbit around the Sun every 962 days or 2.63 Earth years, making the space object faint and hard to detect using present techniques.

Potentially Hazardous, Football Pitch-Sized

Notably, the potentially hazardous asteroid features an 890-foot diameter, around the same size as a regular football pitch and is considered small for its size. NASA declares an asteroid to be a PHA (potentially hazardous asteroid) if it measures more than 460 feet and orbits as close as 4.6 million miles of the Earth's orbit to the Sun.

Dr. Kim regarded that the next PHA flyby would arrive by April 2029, with Asteroid 99942 Apophis.

Potentially Hazardous Asteroid Fly-Bys

Asteroid fly-bys outside the planet take place many times a year, and NASA and other space agencies monitor these to see any potential dangers they bring to the Earth and its inhabitants. Last year, Asteroid 2023 DZ2 had its flyby, considered as a potentially hazardous space rock, and was said to be closer to the Earth than to the Moon.

Moreover, there was one potentially hazardous space rock that was said to be the size of a skyscraper heading towards the Earth and passing by the planet but was regarded as not hitting or leaving chunks of it hurling to the ground. That said size was as large as the tallest skyscraper in the world, flying by at enormous speeds, 68 times the speed of sound or 52,500 mph.

This new asteroid coming close to Earth's proximity is under the watchful eye of NASA and contributing researchers, claiming that it is at a safe distance that would not harm the planet and everything in it. Come this Friday afternoon, Asteroid 2008 OS7 will make its pass, but it will not enter the Earth's atmosphere, and the next one will come by 2029.