Asteroid (2024 ON) to make close flyby, no threat to Earth
On Tuesday, September 17, at a distance small by cosmic standards, an object that may be up to half a kilometer in diameter will pass by Earth. Astronomers have named it (2024 ON).
The asteroid will be closest to Earth precisely on September 17 at 6:19 AM Eastern Time. Its speed relative to our planet is 5.52 miles per second or about 20,000 miles per hour.
Close encounter with asteroid (2024 ON)
The asteroid will pass us at a distance of 0.00668 astronomical units, or about 620,000 miles. This is two and a half times the distance between the Earth and the Moon. Therefore, this celestial body poses no threat to us.
Impressive size of the object
The diameter of the asteroid is estimated to be between 689 and 1,542 feet. Every day, asteroids of various sizes pass Earth, some even several times a day. However, these are mostly much smaller objects, with diameters of a few, several, or a few dozen meters. In the case of an asteroid (2024 ON), we are dealing with an object that may be up to half a kilometer in diameter.
According to information from the Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), no other known equally large object will come close to us in the coming year. On October 12, the asteroid 363027 (1998 ST27), with a half kilometer diameter, will pass by us, but at a distance of 2.17 million miles.
Future approaches of asteroid (2024 ON)
Calculations indicate that the next close encounters with the asteroid (2024 ON) will occur in the years 2035, 2052, 2063, 2072, 2109, 2111, and 2120. However, these distances will be greater than this year's. The asteroid orbits the Sun every 3.7 years and is classified as a Near-Earth Object (NEO) and a potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA). It belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids, which intersect the orbits of Earth, Venus, and even Mercury.
