The upcoming asteroid is closer than the moon

In the near future, when an asteroid whizzes past the earth, it will be very close to us, even closer than the moon's orbit.

This asteroid named "2020 SW" will not collide with the Earth. But it will be close to the earth, passing from a distance of 27,000 kilometers.

To put it more intuitively, the average distance between the moon and the earth is 384,000 kilometers, or about 30 earths away from us. The distance of this asteroid past the Earth is only about 2.1 Earths. According to EarthSky, this means that the asteroid 2020 SW travels closer to the earth than TV and weather satellites, which are in an orbit of 35,900 kilometers from the earth.

Scientists have not yet been able to determine the exact size of the asteroid, but it is not that big. According to CNEOS, it may be about 4.4 meters to 9.9 meters long. This asteroid, possibly only the size of a RV, was captured by Arizona's Mount Lemmon Survey on the 18th last week. The Asteroid Center sponsored by NASA to monitor asteroids, comets, and natural satellites announced this in the following day.

For asteroid 2020 SW, passing the earth is really a destiny-changing event. It is such a tiny asteroid that the gravity of the earth will change its trajectory.

According to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, after the asteroid 2020SW has passed the Earth, it will not visit the Earth again until June 3, 2029.

In other words, this Thursday it will definitely visit in a hurry at a speed of 27,720 km/h relative to the earth.

When approaching the earth, this asteroid becomes brighter, but it is invisible to the naked eye.