2012 DK31, 2006 BE55, 2007 ED125, and 2021 QW are the pretty names for these huge NEOs, classified as “hazardous” by NASA, that nursed Earth this week.
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A catastrophe was unlikely because the nearest pebble passed 3.5 million kilometers from the ground.
The first two came on Monday and Tuesday and the other two were on Friday.
Even if the risks of collision were minimal, NASA remained on the lookout that a simple modification of the trajectory would be enough to make an impact.
The first asteroid, 137 meters in size, approached on Monday at a distance of about 4.8 million km from Earth.
The second “visit” took place on Tuesday with an Apollo-like asteroid. 2006 BE55 already known; It crosses Earth’s orbit every four to five years. It passed near Earth a little closer than Monday, about 3.6 million kilometers away.
The largest of these, 2007 ED125, is 213 meters wide. It “smashed” the Earth at a distance of 4.5 million kilometers on Friday.
On the same day, a fourth pebble crossed the blue planet. Even though it’s farther out, it gets closer to Earth every two years.
NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) keeps a record of incoming asteroid approaches. Tracks are calculated over the next 100 years.
You can refer to it here: https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/ca/
– According to information from Science & Vie
