An Asteroid Will Pass By Earth without Causing Any Harm on February 4

Some media outlets reported that an Asteroid will fly close to Earth on February 4. They also called it ‘hazardous’. But NASA’s representatives have made it clear that there is no need to panic. As big as a building, the Asteroid 2002 AJ129 will pass by Earth within about 10 times the distance from Earth to the moon. The asteroid is about 0.3 to 0.75 miles (0.5 to 1.2 km) in diameter. NASA’s representatives also made it clear that there is no chance that it will collide with Earth. Paul Chodas, manager of the Center for Near-Earth-Object Studies at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, says that they have been tracking this Asteroid for more than 14 years and know its orbit very accurately. He further adds that many outlets did not mention the fact that the rocks of this size fly close to earth regularly. In fact, just this week two space rocks have come significantly closer to the Earth. There is more to add to this. On Thursday, January 18, an Asteroid as big as a car came within 0.09 times the distance from the Earth to the moon. Another Asteroid 2018 BX also close flew to Earth last Friday. Even though the two Asteroids were smaller than 2002 AJ129 there was a chance of collision between one of the space rocks and a satellite. An Asteroid much bigger than 2002 AJ129 named Asteroid ‘Florence’ passed within about 4.4 million miles (7 million km) of Earth. Any Asteroid larger than 460 feet is designated ‘potentially hazardous’. So, nothing to wonder if 2002 AJ129 is designated as ‘potentially hazardous.’ Near- Earth Asteroids can be dangerous to the Earth but not all space rocks are to be scared of.