FINAL FRONTIER – An asteroid virtually a mile wide with a moon of its possess is anticipated to circulation by Earth this weekend, touring at 48,000 mph. The gap rock, recognized as asteroid 1999 KW4, changed into found 20 years within the past and is so astronomical that it is miles orbited by a moon.
On Saturday evening, 1999 KW4 will create its closest attain to Earth. This may maybe be considered except May maybe well maybe additionally 27. As a result of it carries a astronomical moon alongside with it, the asteroid is technically designated as a binary machine.
A binary machine is defined as two celestial objects end ample to orbit every varied, based completely mostly on NASA.
The Las Cumbres Observatory describes 1999 KW4 as “a itsy-bitsy squashed at the poles and with a mountain ridge spherical the equator, which runs the total means spherical the asteroid. This ridge gives the foremost an look equal to a walnut or a spinning top.”
The asteroid changed into first found by the Lincoln Laboratory’s Shut to Earth Asteroid Analysis watch (LINEAR) in Socorro, Contemporary Mexico, based completely mostly on NASA. The asteroid won’t circulation this end to earth again except 2036.
The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Minor Planet Heart has classified 1999 KW4 as a “potentially unsafe asteroid” because of it’ll trudge moderately end to Earth. Even so, the asteroid will handiest circulation as end as 3.2 million miles from Earth — roughly 13 instances the distance between the Earth and the moon.
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