Asteroid heading our way? called 2022 OE02 bigger than the statue of Unity is anticipated to travel dangerously closer to Earth
Small, stony bodies that revolve around the sun are known as asteroids, although they aren’t large enough to be considered planets. Other names for them include “planetoid” and “minor planet.”
Asteroids range in size from hundreds of miles to a few feet wide, and there are millions of them. The total mass of all asteroids is less than that of Earth’s moon.
Asteroids can be dangerous, no matter how small they are. There have been many collisions with Earth in the past, and there will be many more in the future. Astronomers are eager to learn more about asteroids, their orbits and physical features as a result of this.
2022 OE02
As a result, NASA has issued an important alert on an asteroid that is coming straight for the planet’s surface.
According to NASA, a massive asteroid known as 2022 OE02 will fly by Earth in the near future. The asteroid will be passing within 3.2 million miles of the planet. The asteroid’s vast size is bigger than the Statue of Unity. This might cause significant harm to the planet if it comes into touch with it.
The 2022 OE02 asteroid has been labelled as “possibly dangerous” by NASA, indicating that it is a near-Earth object (NEO) and could harm the planet. If an asteroid of this magnitude hits Earth, it might have catastrophic consequences for the whole human race.
Measures Taken by NASA
NASA, on the other hand, has already begun preparing for the worst. With the Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission (DART), it hopes to test the effectiveness of this system in protecting the planet from potentially hazardous asteroids.
The mission, which was launched in November 2021 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, would crash into Dimorphos, a tiny moon that circles around the asteroid Didymos. Collision is predicted to occur in September or October this year.
Scientists expressed alarm in 2020 about the possibility of an asteroid named “Apophis” having an influence on Earth because of its close approach to the planet in 2068. Nevertheless, NASA later ruled out the possibility of asteroid crashes on Earth for the next century.
