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Mile-wide asteroid set to fly near Earth this week as scientists look to protect planet from impacts

Scientists will observe asteroid to better understand its orbit – ahead of a passby later this century that will bring it much closer

Monday 27 April 2020 16:59 BST

View of a prickly pear and the Milky Way in the sky over the Tatacoa Desert, in the department of Huila, Colombia, on October 11, 2018 (LUIS ACOSTA/AFP via Getty Images)

An asteroid that is more than a mile wide – and will come closer at the end of the century.

The object known as (52768) 1998 OR2 will still be relatively distant from Earth when it comes past: at 3.9 million miles away, it will be around 16 times the distance from the Earth to the Moon.

But it is relatively close for such a large object, allowing researchers to observe the object to understand more about its orbit and asteroids more generally.

That could help us understand the asteroid better ahead of a closer flyby in around 60 years.

The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico has been tracking the 1.2 mile-wide space rock as it edges nearer, after Nasa first spotted it in 1998.

Scientists have joked that the latest image of the asteroid look like it is wearing a mask due to dust and debris passing around it.

"The small-scale topographic features such as hills and ridges on one end of asteroid 1998 OR2 are fascinating scientifically," said Dr Anne Virkki, head of Planetary Radar at the observatory.

"But since we are all thinking about Covid-19 these features make it look like 1998 OR2 remembered to wear a mask."

The asteroid is classed as a PHO (potentially hazardous object) because it is bigger than 140 metres and will come within five million miles of Earth's orbit, but no known PHO poses an immediate danger to the planet.

Nevertheless, scientists continue to keep an eye on the asteroid to see how it will move beyond 2020.

"The radar measurements allow us to know more precisely where the asteroid will be in the future, including its future close approaches to Earth," explained Flaviane Venditti, a research scientist at the observatory.

Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures

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1/10Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures

Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures

Mystic Mountain, a pillar of gas and dust standing at three-light-years tall, bursting with jets of gas from fledgling stars buried within, was captured by Nasa's Hubble Space Telescope in February 2010

Nasa/ESA/STScI

Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures

The first ever selfie taken on an alien planet, captured by Nasa's Curiosity Rover in the early days of its mission to explore Mars in 2012

Nasa/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures

Death of a star: This image from Nasa's Chandra X-ray telescope shows the supernova of Tycho, a star in our Milky Way galaxy

Nasa

Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures

Arrokoth, the most distant object ever explored, pictured here on 1 January 2019 by a camera on Nasa's New Horizons spaceraft at a distance of 4.1 billion miles from Earth

Getty

Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures

An image of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy seen in infrared light by the Herschel Space Observatory in January 2012. Regions of space such as this are where new stars are born from a mixture of elements and cosmic dust

Nasa

Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures

The first ever image of a black hole, captured by the Event Horizon telescope, as part of a global collaboration involving Nasa, and released on 10 April 2019. The image reveals the black hole at the centre of Messier 87, a massive galaxy in the nearby Virgo galaxy cluster. This black hole resides about 54 million light-years from Earth

Getty

Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures

Pluto, as pictured by Nasa's New Horizons spacecraft as it flew over the dwarf planet for the first time ever in July 2015

Nasa/APL/SwRI

Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures

A coronal mass ejection as seen by the Chandra Observatory in 2019. This is the first time that Chandra has detected this phenomenon from a star other than the Sun

Nasa

Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures

Dark, narrow, 100 meter-long streaks running downhill on the surface Mars were believed to be evidence of contemporary flowing water. It has since been suggested that they may instead be formed by flowing sand

Nasa/JPL/University of Arizona

Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures

Morning Aurora: Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly captured this photograph of the green lights of the aurora from the International Space Station in October 2015

Nasa/Scott Kelly

"In 2079, asteroid 1998 OR2 will pass Earth about 3.5 times closer than it will this year, so it is important to know its orbit precisely."

The team started observations on April 13 and will continue to collect data until April 23, when the asteroid will no longer be visible from the facility.

"Although this asteroid is not projected to impact Earth, it is important to understand the characteristics of these types of objects to improve impact-risk mitigation technologies," Dr Virkki added.

Additional reporting by Press Association

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