Asteroid set to miss Earth, so there’s one less worry – ANU College of Science

As the world grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, we can be thankful that humanity will be spared from another catastrophe tonight when a big asteroid skims past Earth, according to ANU astronomer Dr Brad Tucker.

He said Asteroid 1998 OR2, which is about four kilometres in diameter and travelling 36,000 kilometres per hour based on the latest data from the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, will pass the Earth at a distance of 6.2 million kilometres at 6.56 pm AEDT tonight far enough away to allow us not to panic.

This asteroid poses no danger to the Earth and will not hit - it is one catastrophe we wont have, said Dr Tucker from the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics.

While it is big, it is still smaller than the asteroid that impacted the Earth and wiped out the dinosaurs.

Dr Tucker said an asteroid is classified as potentially hazardous if it is 150 metres in diameter or bigger, and it passes Earth within 7.5 million kilometres.

And while its far enough away to not cause concern about planet-wide extinction, the asteroid will still be close enough for us to see, he said.

Avid amateur astronomers will be able to catch a glimpse of the bright rock as it hurtles along in space, through a small telescope, by looking near the constellation Centaurus in the night sky.

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Asteroid set to miss Earth, so there's one less worry - ANU College of Science

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