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Asteroid Aten 153201 (2000 WO107) It will approach Earth this Sunday, November 29 at 07:08 am, Spanish Peninsula time. The object will approach at a distance of 4,302,775 kilometers from the Earth’s planet and reach a speed of 25.07 kilometers per second. Furthermore, it would be able to approach 0.028 astronomical units of the Earth and would have a luminosity of H = 19.3, thus it would fall under the classification of “potentially dangerous” by NASA standards.
Investigations on asteroid 153201 (2000 WO107) began in November 2000, having been last observed on January 13, 2018. It is now approaching Earth at a closer range than other planetoids considered “potentially dangerous”. This asteroid has half a kilometer in diameter, a distance equivalent to the length of ten Olympic-sized swimming pools.
NASA defines what asteroids are “potentially dangerous” following well-defined parameters: If they have a minimum intersection distance of the orbit equal to or less than 0.05 au and an absolute magnitude of H = 22.0 or less, they are included in this list of astronomical objects.
It is not the only asteroid that has come close to Earth this week
The asteroids Apollo 2020 WP1 and Apollo 2020 UR6 approached the terrestrial planet on November 26. Although they were also classified by NASA as “potentially dangerous”, their parameters did not reach such extreme figures nor did they come close to Earth.
What is an Aten asteroid?
There are three types of objects near the Earth: the asteroids Aten, Apollo and Amor, and their classification is based on the trajectory of their orbits. Aton performs internal orbital paths to the terrestrial one, therefore they keep their path inside that of the Earth.
Moreover, its semi-major axis is less than an astronomical unit, that is, it is less than average distance between the Earth and the Sun.
Could the asteroid collide with Earth?
Although asteroid 153201 (2000 WO107) is considered “potentially dangerous” according to the NASA classification, the likelihood of it hitting the Earth is virtually nonexistent. The planetoid will approach 5 million kilometers, a distance considered close in astronomical measurements, but which presents possibilities almost zero collisions.
The next time this asteroid orbits close to Earth it will be the February 10, 2024 at 11:51 on the peninsula. In this case, it will not get as close as possible to the Earth’s planet, as the minimum distance it could reach would be 0.236 astronomical units according to NASA records.
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