An asteroid named 153201 (2000 WO107) orbit could bring it in close proximity to Earth.
- NASA JPL has classified 2000 WO107 as a “Potentially Hazardous Asteroid” due to its predicted close pass with Earth.
- The asteroid has a diameter of more than 500 m, and is over 800 m high about the size of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building that measures 830 m.
- It was discovered in the year 2000, as per NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory website.
- It has been classified as near-Earth Object (NEO), which are a group of comets and asteroids nudged by the gravitational attraction of nearby planets into orbits which allows them to enter the Earth’s neighbourhood.
What is an asteroid?
- According to the NASA, ”Asteroids, sometimes called minor planets, are rocky, airless remnants left over from the early formation of our solar system about 4.6 billion years ago.”
- It can be found orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter within the main asteroid belt.
- Asteroids range in size from Vesta — the largest at about 329 miles (530 kilometers) in diameter — to bodies that are less than 33 feet (10 meters) across.
- The total mass of all the asteroids combined is less than that of Earth’s Moon.
(Source: NASA)
