O asteroid 2024 MK It was discovered by scientists just over a week ago and will pass close to Earth this Saturday (29). With a diameter between 120 and 260 meters, 2024 MK will pass just 290,000 km from Earth, closer than the Moon — which is around 384,400 km from our planet.
Scientists say there is no risk of collision. Good thing, as any near-Earth object larger than 20 meters can already cause damage to the ground, and 2024 MK is more than six times that size.
Even if there is no risk of collision, the fact that it was discovered just a week before his passing It’s a little worrying.
An asteroid the size of 2024 MK would cause considerable damage if it came our way and, therefore, discovering its arrival a few days earlier left the scientific community alert to the constant need to improve technologies capable of detecting objects close to Earth.
Asteroid 2024 MK will be visible in the sky on Saturday, with the help of a telescope.
Asteroid Day
Coincidentally, 2024 MK will pass close to Earth right on Asteroid Day, on June 29th.
The date, approved by the UN, marks the largest collision of an asteroid with our planet: the 1908 collision in Tunguska, Siberia, in a practically deserted area, which knocked down around 80 million trees.
Part of Europe luckily escaped the 1908 collision, a small difference in time (and Earth’s rotation) could have caused the asteroid to fall in the most densely populated area of the continent.
Two asteroids in the same week
2024 MK is not the only one passing close to our planet this week. The asteroid (415029) 2011 UL212.3 km in diameter — larger than 99% of all known near-Earth objects — passed Earth on Thursday (27).
However, (415029) 2011 UL21 did not come as close to the planet as 2024 MK will. Even at its closest point to Earth, it was about 17 times further from our planet than the Moon.
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