![An asteroid is seen orbiting around Earth in this artistic rendering.](https://recentpush.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/An-asteroid-is-seen-orbiting-around-Earth-in-this-artistic-rendering..png)
According to NASA’s asteroid tracker, an asteroid almost 2.5 times the size of a dinosaur is scheduled to swing by the Earth quite closely on Tuesday.
What asteroid is heading in our direction?
The asteroid in the discussion, 2022 PW, is currently traveling in our general direction.
![Asteroid approaching Earth that is 2.3 times the size of a dinosaur](https://recentpush.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/An-asteroid-is-seen-orbiting-around-Earth-in-this-artistic-rendering..png)
According to the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the asteroid in issue will pass by on August 16, 2022, specifically at a speed of 7.47 kilometers per second, or 26,892 kilometers per hour. Additionally, it is equivalent to almost 22 times the speed of sound.
However, the distance of this asteroid approaching Earth is what is really intriguing.
The asteroid 2022 PW will pass Earth at a distance of about 529,000 kilometers, according to NASA’s CNEOS.
For context, consider that the Moon typically revolves around the Earth at a distance of about 384,000 kilometers.
This indicates that asteroid 2022 PW will be somewhat farther from Earth than the Moon. Even on a cosmic scale, it will still be quite close.
What size is the asteroid that will strike Earth in 2022?
Fortunately, not too huge.
Asteroid 2022 PW has an estimated diameter that might be up to 51 meters broad, according to NASA’s CNEOS.
For comparison, experts estimate that the long-necked sauropod dinosaur Brachiosaurus may have reached a length of 22 meters or 2.3 times smaller.
Related video: An asteroid named 2022 OE02 is expected to come dangerously close to Earth.
In 2022, will an asteroid strike Earth?
It won’t be this one if it does. Additionally, even if this asteroid collision did occur, it wouldn’t be so catastrophic in the grand scheme of things.
It is true that asteroids are among the most hazardous natural disasters that could happen because of the enormous amount of harm they are capable of causing and the fact that humanity has not yet fully developed a means of defense against them.
The Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel’s educational arm, the Davidson Institute of Science, has conducted research that suggests an asteroid with a diameter of over 140 meters will impact Earth and release energy at least a thousand times higher than the first atomic bomb.
Something significantly bigger, like the Apophis asteroid, which is nearly 300 meters broad, might wipe out an entire continent. A global catastrophe could be caused by an asteroid with a width of over one kilometer, such as asteroid 138971 (2001 CB21), which passed by the Earth in early March 2022.
![Something significantly bigger, like the Apophis asteroid](https://recentpush.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/AATRcPy-1.jpg)
Asteroid 2022 PW won’t likely inflict much harm if it clashes, though, given its size. Upon atmospheric arrival, it will literally explode violently and loudly, but the real damage would be, at best, negligible.
The asteroid 2022 PW won’t be nearly as large as the asteroid that actually managed to wipe out all of the dinosaurs, even though it may be measured in terms of dinosaurs.
However, the chance that an asteroid will strike the Earth in 2022 is certainly high. Actually, that has already happened.
The minor asteroid 2022 EB5, which was about half the size of a giraffe and actually struck the Earth in mid-March, did not cause any harm.
When is it expected that the next asteroid will strike Earth?
At the very minimum, not for long.
Fortunately, for the time being, nothing can harm us. In fact, NASA has determined that for the ensuing century there is no threat of a catastrophic asteroid impact on Earth.
What asteroid will strike Earth next?
Although we are unsure, there are some candidates.
The asteroid Bennu, a gigantic 500-meter-wide giant of an asteroid, is currently among the planet’s most hazardous asteroids. The consequences of this asteroid striking the Earth would be catastrophic, but as far as NASA is concerned, this won’t happen for a very long time, if ever.
Do we have any means of preventing an asteroid from striking Earth?
Perhaps, yes.
Scientists at NASA and around the world are working hard to protect the Earth against extraterrestrial threats, with the term extraterrestrial referring to anything that is not on Earth, like an asteroid, and not merely referring to alien life. The area of planetary defense is specifically organized to do things like that.
The NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, which will involve a small, specially-designed spacecraft crashing into an asteroid to determine whether it may possibly change its orbit even slightly, is currently the most promising of these initiatives. But only time will tell if this turns out to be successful.
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