Asteroid 7482 Twice The Size of Burj Khalifa to Fly Past Earth on 18 January

A giant Asteroid which is said to be twice the size of the skyscraper Burj Khalifa will be passing through Earth today i.e. on 18 January as informed by CNEOS (Center for Near-Earth Object Studies) of NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration).

The big asteroid is called Asteroid 7482 and is also named Asteroid 1994 PC1 and it is approximately 1.6 kilometres in width as stated by the United States space agency. Asteroid 1994 PC 1 is regarded as twice the size of the tallest building on Earth Burj Khalifa which is 828 metres.

In view of the asteroid's relative closeness to the planet Earth during the shooting past, it is characterized by NASA as a 'potentially hazardous object.'

It is informed that the asteroid will fly by at an expected speed of 69,200 km per hour. The asteroid has the capacity to cause extreme damage on Earth but NASA assured that it will pass by without causing any harm to the planet.

NASA said that despite being a hazardous object the asteroid will pass at a secure distance of at least 1.9 million kilometres from Earth. The expected distance is 5 times the distance between the Moon and the Earth.

The nearest approach of the asteroid 7482 is likely to take place at 04:51 pm as per the Eastern Standard Time (EST) on Tuesday, January 18 and as per the Indian Standard Time (IST) it will occur at 03:21 am on Wednesday, January 19.

The asteroid that is bigger than any of the buildings built in the entire world will be visible only by using a telescope and can't be witnessed with the naked eye.

The very recent asteroid that hit Earth and exploded in the atmosphere occurred 8 years ago in the region of Russia.

What is Asteroid 7482?

Asteroid 7482 was discovered on 9 August 1994 by astronomer Robert McNaught at the Siding Observatory in Coonabarabran of Australia. It is a stony asteroid with the classification of near-Eart object and is over 1.1 km in diameter with absolute magnitude16.8. It is said to be the potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apolo Group and its orbital period is 569 days.

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