It is an asteroid responding to the sweet name of 2006 HV5 which is heading towards the Earth at very high velocity. It will take little from an astronomical point of view for this celestial object the size of three football fields to come crashing into our planet.
Asteroid 2006 HV5 is currently approaching Earth at very high speed. Fortunately, no imminent impact is expected, unlike NASA’s RHESSI satellite. However, it will pass not far from our planet, 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, or only 6.3 times the distance between Earth and the Moon.
Although this is a comfortable margin seen from the ground, in astronomical terms, this beautiful baby with an estimated diameter of about 300 meters does not come close to colliding with our little blue dot. This is a size equivalent to three football fields, or the size of the Eiffel Tower. Cock-a-doodle Doo !
Any asteroid within 30 million kilometers of Earth’s orbit is considered a near-Earth object, and NASA categorizes them as “potentially dangerous objects” if they are within 4.6 million kilometers of Earth’s orbit with a diameter greater than 140 m.
Separately, the US space agency has classified asteroid 2006 HV5 as a rarity 2 in its Near-Earth Object Studies Center database. This means that, on average, an asteroid of this size or larger only approaches Earth once a year.
Can we see asteroid 2006 HV5?
A NASA official explained to Fox News this week that, even if this rather exceptionally large space object will pass relatively close to the Earth, observing it will still require special equipment. “Asteroids do not emit visible light, which is why we observe them mainly through the sunlight they reflect“, she explained. “When closest to us, 2006 HV5 will only be bright enough to be seen with large telescopes.”
The scientist continued her intervention by reassuring the public: NASA has a good idea of the position of the asteroid and its evolution for the next few years: “With 260 observations of 2006 HV5 made over the past 17 years, astronomers are able to calculate very precisely its orbit and therefore its past, present and future position.“, she explains.
Read: NASA’s Perseverance rover has lost its ‘pebble friend’ after more than a year on Mars
To date, 2,300 asteroids have been added to the list of “potentially dangerous objects“. Although none of them means imminent disaster, there is always a risk that their orbit will be disrupted and they will collide with Earth. Fortunately, NASA managed to knock the asteroid Dimorphos out of orbit with the impact of the DART probe, and humanity now has a defense against these potentially civilization-ending visitors.
