Asteroid 1998 HL1 Will Come near Earth – How Dangerous Is It?

This asteroid, known as Asteroid 1998 HL1 is a 700-meter rock that will come past Earth in the period of 25-28 of October. This asteroid is cataloged as being a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA). It was first discovered at the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) project in New Mexico back in 1998.

The diagrams that were released by NASA showed how close a near –miss is. This asteroid travels with the speed of 25,000mph past our planet. Ever since it was discovered, it was seen flying at up to 408 times. If it really were to crash into our planet, it could be catastrophic damage for us.

The closest approach this year would be of 150,000,000 miles away – that’s 16 times the distance of the Moon. However, in astronomic terms, it’s incredibly close – 1.6AU – but it’s been said that it would not hit Earth for at least 120 years.

This asteroid is big enough to kill millions of people. The next time it passes out Earth, it would be on the 26th of October, 2140. It will come at a distance of 6.18 million kilometers – that’s 3.8 million miles. However, before then, the Apollo rock will keep orbiting the Sun every 508 days. Most of the asteroids are usually burnt up when they enter the atmosphere of Earth.

The administrator of NASA, Jim Bridenstine, has warned us about a possible asteroid collision: it’s more likely to happen than we believe. He stated that they needed to make sure that people get the fact that we’re not in Hollywood, and we are talking about protecting the only planet that hosts life so far, and that’s Planet Earth.

The space agency is currently working on the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART).

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