Asteroid 2022 PJ1 is hurtling towards earth; Know what time will it make its closest approach

Space rocks have been making their closest passes to earth quite frequently lately. Though they aren’t supposed to pose any threat to our planet, scientists have classified many of them as potentially dangerous asteroids due to their close approaches to earth. As per a report by NASA, a house-sized asteroid dubbed as Asteroid 2022 PJ1 will reportedly fly past Earth on August 16, at 06:59 at a distance of 4.23 million kilometers.

The asteroid will be traveling at a speed of 6 kilometers per second. The asteroid 2022 PJ1 belongs to Apollo Group. It was detected on August 7, 2022. According to Sky.org, the space rock takes 547 days to complete its one orbit around the Sun. Its orbit’s farthest point from the Sun is 247 million kilometers, and the nearest point is 145 million kilometers. It will make its next close pass to earth on August 04, 20256 at 18.86 million kilometers.

How are asteroids classified into near-Earth objects?

A space rock that comes within the distance of 30 million miles from Earth is classified as a “near-Earth object” by NASA and any near-earth objects that come within around 4.65 million miles fall into potentially hazardous asteroids. However, the asteroid “2022 PJ1”, is not classified as a “potentially hazardous object”.

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.