'City killer' 610 m rushes to Earth, can be seen tonight

According to Live Science, astronomy observers in the United States will have the opportunity to see this asteroid in the sky with personal telescopes on the nights of April 15, 16 and 17, or 3 nights immediately after the close encounter. Earth.

On the night of April 15, Eastern time in the US - corresponding to the morning of April 16, Vietnam time, observers from Vietnam can admire 2013 NK4 tonight.

According to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), this asteroid reached its closest point to Earth at 10:50 pm on April 15 Vietnam time.

Although classified as "potentially dangerous", this time, the asteroid nicknamed "city killer" does not pose any danger to us because it only approaches at a distance of 3. 2 million km, equal to 8 times the distance between the Moon and the Earth.

As it passed us, 2013 NK4 flew at speeds of up to 59,000 km/h.

However, space agencies around the world will certainly have to continue to monitor 2013 NK4 in the future, because it will pass by the earth many more times.

2013 NK4 was dubbed the "city killer" because astronomers calculated that it would be enough to destroy an entire city if it collided.

This close approach gives scientists a golden opportunity to study 2013 NK4 with specialized radars, helping to shed more light on the size, shape and other factors related to the asteroid. This crystal.

Preliminary estimates suggest that the width at its greatest position is about 610 m. Although it was discovered in 2013, there is very little data on 2013 NK4, so this estimate as well as predictions about its shape may be biased.

Micah Soto

Update 16 April 2024