NASA researchers warn: tomorrow a 60-meter asteroid will fly past the Earth

On Tuesday, June 6, the asteroid 2023 KW2 will fly near the Earth. This is stated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

The distance from the asteroid to the Earth will be about 4.5 million kilometers, and the speed of movement will be 36,360 kilometers per hour. The length of the space object is about 61 meters.

If an asteroid approaches the Earth at a distance of less than 7.4 million km and its size is greater than 150 meters, NASA considers it a «potentially hazardous object.» However, 2023 KW2 does not meet both criteria at the same time, so this classification does not apply to it.

As of February 2023, more than 1.265 million asteroids are known to exist in the Solar System. However, NASA specialists record several thousand newly discovered objects every month.

Earlier, researchers at the Arizona Lunar and Planetary Observatory used a mapping simulation to determine how fast an asteroid would fall to Earth. The analysis of space bodies indicates that none of the stone giants will pose a significant threat to the Earth for at least 100 years. However, scientists have identified those asteroids that will have a high probability of colliding with the Earth over the next millennium — asteroid 7482 as particularly dangerous and asteroid 143,651, which has such a chaotic orbit that it is impossible to predict its exact position even over the next few decades. Thus, it may or may not pose a threat at all.

NASA believes that the asteroid will hit the Earth much faster — around 2046. According to the agency, the asteroid 2023 DW with a diameter of 49.3 m may collide with the Earth on February 14, 2046. American researchers estimate this probability at 1 in 560, and the European Space Agency at 1 in 625.