A Giant Asteroid Returns To Earth Next Week, Residents Can Witness It

Next week Earth will again be approached by a large asteroid. (photo: Pixabay)

JAKARTA - Next week Earth will be approached again by a large asteroid, but NASA says people around the world need not worry about it.

The asteroid, which was scheduled to fly past Earth on January 18, called 7482 (1994 PC1), is currently being monitored under NASA's Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) center, to identify and track large space rocks that pose a potential threat to the planet.

Fortunately, and as with other near asteroid events, NASA says we have nothing to worry about. Asteroid 7482 will travel at a high speed of about 47.000 MPH.

As the name suggests, this asteroid, first discovered in 1994 (via Space Reference), is categorized as a near-Earth object and NASA considers it possibly dangerous because of its possible trajectory to pass relatively close to Earth.

Even so, it will only be within about 1.2 million miles of Earth. That is a great distance, but in terms of space, it is considered a short distance.

Experts believe the asteroid will not hit Earth as it approaches next week, even when it returns about 200 years from now, as quoted from Slashgear, Thursday, January 13.

Because it's close, the asteroid can be seen from Earth

Knowing the asteroid will not impact Earth and trigger a series of events that are truly catastrophic, the good news is that people on Earth will be able to see the celestial phenomenon occur.

But they must have a telescope and be in an environment with good weather. EarthSky reports that a small telescope should be sufficient to observe the asteroid as it passes through Earth.

For those in North America, the best time to view the asteroid is probably around 10 p.m. EST on January 18.

Amateur astronomers are advised to point their telescopes at the star HIP 7011, then wait a few minutes and watch closely the asteroid will pass very close to its star.