Asteroid bigger than Burj Khalifa passed close to Earth

The asteroid 1994 PC1 is to pass by earth on January 18, 2022. It will pass by at a distance of 1.2 million miles. This is five times the distance between moon and the earth. Therefore, the asteroid will not cause any harm to the earth. It is also known by the name “7482”. Its length is more than one kilometer. That is, 3,450 feet. Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world is 2,722 feet.Travelling speed of the asteroid is 45,000 miles per hour. It is a stony asteroid. It is put under the category of potentially hazardous asteroid and also under the near – earth object category.

Orbit

• It orbits around the sun at 0.9 to 1.8 AU. It takes an ecliptic orbit. According to light curve analysis, the rotation period of the asteroid is 2.599 hours.
• Light curve is tracking the light intensity of a celestial body.

First Observation

• It was first discovered by Goldstone radar in 1997. The Goldstone observatory is located in Mojave desert.
• It belongs to NASA. It mainly tracks the space missions of NASA.

Characteristics

• It is a S – type asteroid. These asteroids are made of siliceous minerals, that is, mainly silica.
• Around 17% of the asteroids in the solar system are S – type asteroids. The most common are the C – type, that is, the carbonaceous.

Unnamed Minor planet

• The Asteroid 1994 PC1 is an unnamed minor planet. Minor planets are those celestial bodies that orbit directly around the sun.
• Unlike the moons that orbit around a planet, the minor planets orbit around the sun. They are neither a planet nor a comet.
• It includes asteroids, main – belt asteroids, near earth objects, distant minor planets such as trans – Neptunian object and centaurs.
• Also, most of the celestial bodies that are in the Kupier belt are minor planets. Ceres was the first minor planet. It was discovered in 1801.