The giant asteroid 2020 DB5 is hurtling towards Earth at 36,000 km/h
Photo credit: An artistic rendering of asteroid 2016 WF9 as it passes Jupiter's orbit towards the Sun.
NASA/JPL-CaltechAt 488 meters, asteroid 2020 DB5 is the largest of the next five asteroids approaching our planet. It will pass 4.3 million km from Earth on Thursday.
Not a week goes by without it being reported that an asteroid is going to cross more or less close to the Earth. This Thursday, a near-Earth cruiser in the giant category will pass “close” to our planet. According to the Center for the Study of Near-Earth Objects (CNEOS) of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which tracks near-Earth objects, its length is 488 meters and its passage distance from Earth is 4.3 million km.
Although it poses no threat of crashing into us, its size and proximity as it passes place it on the threshold of what JPL deems “ potentially dangerous ”. These are asteroids larger than 140 meters whose orbits bring them within 7.5 million kilometers of Earth's orbit around the Sun. 2020 DB5 is the largest of five asteroids that will approach our planet between June 14 and 18.
Asteroid 2020 DB5 will return in 2048
2020 DB5 has already made six passes close to our planet since 1905. The last visit was on June 23, 1995 and the next is scheduled for May 2, 2048, according to the Center for Near Earth Object Studies.
NASA says it has discovered to date 10,472 asteroids over 140 meters and considers that there are still 15,000 to be spotted.
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