NASA’s JPL constantly scans the skies for potentially hazardous asteroids, tracking their paths to ensure Earth’s safety. This careful monitoring offers insights into these ancient objects, shedding light on the solar system’s history.
An asteroid of the size of Golden Gate Bridge will brush past Earth today, NASA has warned. NASA JPL has classified 1998 ST27 as a “Potentially Hazardous Asteroid” due to its predicted close pass(es) with Earth.
The asteroid designated as 363027 (1998 ST27) orbits the Sun every 271 days (0.74 years), coming as close as 0.39 AU and reaching as far as 1.25 AU from it. 1998 ST27 is about 0.6 km in diameter, making it larger than 97 percent of asteroids but small compared to large asteroids, comparable in size to the Golden Gate Bridge.
However, there is no imminent threat as the asteroid will pass at a distance of 3,561,149 km from the Earth.
NASA uses advanced observation techniques and modelling to track asteroid paths. This helps scientists predict possible threats. Asteroids have significantly changed Earth’s biosphere in the past. For example, the asteroid that struck the Yucatán Peninsula 6.5 million years ago is thought to have wiped out 75% of Earth’s species, including the dinosaurs.
The scientific interest in asteroids is due largely to their status as the remnant debris from the inner solar system formation process. Because some of these objects can collide with the Earth, asteroids are also important for having significantly modified the Earth’s biosphere in the past.