The asteroid, called 2022 FB2, is about 49 feet (15 meters) in diameter and will approach a distance of 93,400 miles (150,000 kilometers) when it approaches our planet, according to a NASA map of asteroid flights. For comparison, the average distance between the Earth and the Moon is about 239,000 miles (385,000 kilometers). Astronomers first spotted 2022 FB2 on Saturday (March 26th), according to a NASA database.
This NASA graphic shows the orbit of the 2022 FB2 asteroid as it flew 93,000 miles from Earth on March 28, 2022. (Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech) Monday’s flight follows the heels of another asteroid, called 2022 FD1, which flew just 5,400 miles (8,700 kilometers) from Earth on Thursday (March 24). This asteroid was discovered by astronomer Krisztián Sárneczky, who announced the finding on Twitter. The 2022 FD1 asteroid is a tiny space rock, with the largest estimates linking it to about 12.1 feet (3.7 meters), according to a database maintained by NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Studies (CNEOS) at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena. , California. Recently, Sárneczky also discovered an asteroid called 2022 EB5, which actually hit Earth on March 11 and burned over the Norwegian Sea. It was discovered just two hours before the collision, with astronomers quickly making subsequent observations that allowed NASA’s Scout collision risk system to predict where and when 2022 EB5 would hit Earth’s atmosphere. “Tiny asteroids like 2022 EB5 are numerous and collide with the atmosphere quite often – about every 10 months or so,” said Paul Chodas of NASA, director of CNEOS at JPL. “But very few of these asteroids have been detected in space and have been observed extensively before the impact, mainly because they are very dim until the last hours, and a research telescope must observe just the right place in the sky at the right time for a must be identified. “ Chodas and other scientists around the world regularly monitor what NASA calls “potentially dangerous asteroids” orbiting them 4.6 million miles (7.5 million km) from Earth. Email Tariq Malik at [email protected] or follow @tariqjmalik. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Instagram.
