The massive asteroid, 1998 FF14 will zoom past Earth on September 24 around 12.57 pm IST. The asteroid has been classified as a Near-Earth Object by NASA’s Centre for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS). It also falls under the Potentially Hazardous category as it is bigger than 460 feet (140m). PHO’s are not objects that will collide with Earth but rather, objects that might cause massive devastation on collision. The asteroid is currently on an evasive path, moving away from the Earth, as it is being tracked by the CNEOS.
The 1998 FF14 was first detected on 20th March 1998 and is almost 1410 ft (430m) in diameter, almost 50 meters bigger than Apophis 99942, God Of Destruction that flew by Earth in September on Friday the 13th. Apophis is the asteroid that Neil DeGrasse Tyson had talked about a few weeks ago, describing the destruction the asteroid would cause through a massive tsunami.
Along its path around the Sun, its closest approach will be 0.02780 astronomical units (AU) at about 80,136 km/h. The asteroid is expected to return in Earth’s vicinity on 28th September 2026 and again in 2033, 2040, 2043 and 2196. This asteroid is classified by NASA as an Apollo asteroid as it is a Near-Earth Asteroid with a very wide orbit, having perihelion distance lesser than 1.017 AU, and semi-major axis greater than 1 AU.
One of many asteroids to do a fly-by of Earth among the countless that have been ‘gravitated’ to zoom past us, will return in Earth’s vicinity in the future. There is no absolute certainty that an asteroid impact won’t happen but, it also isn’t certain that it will. There have already been advances in the asteroid defenses by space agencies like NASA and ESA through programs like DART.
Follow us on Twitter – twitter.com/StarvisionN
Like & Follow us on Facebook – www.facebook.com/starvisionnewsenglish
