Asteroid 2022 OK5 will make a close pass to Earth on Wednesday, August 3.
A giant building-sized space rock dubbed as Asteroid 2022 OK5 is heading for Earth and will come very close tomorrow, August, 3, 2022. It is just 3.42 million kilometers, equivalent to 0.02 astronomical units away from earth. It is close enough for astronomers to study the asteroid using radar. According to data from the Center for Near Earth Object Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the flyby of the asteroid is estimated at a distance of 3.41 million kilometers with a speed of 18 kilometers per second. NASA has classified Asteroid 2022 OK5 as a “Potentially Hazardous Asteroid” due to its predicted close pass(es) with Earth. This asteroid is approximately 250 feet long.
As reported by www.sky.org, Nasa’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office monitors the sky with telescopes to keep a track of prominent upcoming space rocks heading to earth.
This is not the only space rock that has made its close pass to earth. Asteroid 2022 OX3 just passed close to Earth today a few hours back. The asteroid was as big as an airplane, which is around 95 feet. Both the near-Earth objects Asteroid 2022 OX3 and Asteroid 2022 OK5 belong to the Apollo group. As per the report, the asteroid 2022 OX3 flew past Earth on August 02 at 18:45 at a distance of 2.74 million kilometers at a speed of 16 kilometers per second.
What are asteroids?
Asteroids are small, rocky objects leftover from the solar system’s formation around some 4.5 billion years ago. They orbit the sun and mostly reside in the between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, also known as asteroid belt. They are made of different kinds of rocks, and hence, no two asteroids are alike.