An asteroid is going to pilot past Earth tomorrow and , while it wo n’t strike us , it ’s really going to fly moderately close .
The bus - sized steroid2018 DV1 , classified as a nigh - Earth asteroid , will slide by about 105,000 km ( 65,000 mile ) from our satellite at about noontide EDT tomorrow , March 2 .
For compare , the Moon orbit at 385,000 kilometers ( 240,000 miles ) , mean 2018 DV1 will number more than three times closer . It will be thesixth closestasteroid to pass Earth in 2018 , and the 18th to aviate within the field of the Moon .
This asteroid is in an orbit around the Sun that takes about 358 Earth daytime . The furthest distance from the Sun it reaches , its aphelion , is 1.15 AU ( 1 AU , galactic social unit , is the Earth - Sun distance ) . Its close point , its perihelion , is 0.82 AU .
look back at itsprevious pass , we can see this is the closest it has ever come to our major planet . Its previous closest approach was also March 2 , right smart back in 1906 . Back then , it reached a distance of 442,000 kilometer ( 275,000 miles ) .
Our predictions for its orbit up to 2067 ( there ’s no useable information beyond that ) do n’t show it making any approaches as close as the one tomorrow . And fortunately , there are no known asteroid on a collision course with Earth . Hooray !
We ’ve had quite a few asteroids make close straits to Earth already this year , though . Back on February 4 , we had2002 AJ129 , which flew past at a relatively large length of 4.2 million kilometers ( 2.6 million miles ) . But its size of it , like to a skyscraper , make some attention . Then on February 9 , an asteroid called2018 CBflew past at a distance of 64,000 klick ( 39,000 miles ) .
Both of those were nigh enough to earn them the sobriquet of a “ potentially hazardous asteroid ” ( PHA ) , although do n’t worry too much . NASA classifies anything as a PHA that exceeds 500 feet ( 140 m ) in sizing and comes closer than 7.5 million kilometre ( 4.6 million miles ) to Earth .
So 2018 DV1 is yet another space rock direct our way , but as usual there ’s nothing to vex about . Still , if you ’re concerned , you ’ll be capable to watch it online at theVirtual Telescope Project . And there ’s another asteroid to look forth to on March 7 , scream 2017 VR12 , which will evanesce 1.4 million kilometers ( 870,000 miles ) from our planet .
Also , it might be deserving thinking about asteroids abit more seriouslyat some point , if we require to avoid the fate of the dinosaurs in the futurity . Just saying .
