Recently Discovered Asteroid Will Pass by Earth Wednesday, No Harm Expected

It belongs to the category of Apollo asteroids, which means that its orbit intersects Earth’s orbit. Earth-crossing asteroids are one of the most dangerous types, as they could potentially collide with the planet.

A newly found asteroid 2020 GH2 will pass safely by Earth on 15 April at a range of about 359,000 kilometres (223,000 miles), NASA’s Centre for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) data shows. The object is 29 metres (98 feet) wide, NASA’s Asteroid Watch program says.

The asteroid was first discovered on 11 April and is being tracked by astronomers at several observatories, including Germany’s Karl Schwarzschild Observatory in Tautenburg, KLET Observatory in the Czech Republic, Steward Observatory and Catalina Sky Survey at Mount Lemmon in Arizona, the Minor Planet Centre at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, located i Cambridge, Massachusetts, reports.

According to CNEOS, the asteroid will fly past Earth at 11:46 am GMT. It will pass by the Moon later at 7:28 pm GMT at a distance of 690,000 kilometres (429,000 miles).

Most asteroids orbit the sun in a belt between Mars and Jupiter. Scientists believe that stray asteroids or fragments from earlier collisions have bumped into Earth in the past, which played a major role in the planet’s evolution.

Sourse: sputniknews.com