There is an asteroid set to approach Earth Sunday, September 8th. However, no need to hide in a bomb shelter. This asteroid will NOT impact our precious home or damage satellites.
The asteroid, named 2014 RC, was discovered just days ago on August 31st by the Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson, Arizona and by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope on the summit of Haleakalā in Maui, Hawaii. Even though passing at a distance closer than the moon, Asteroid 2014 RC is not expected to be easily found in the night sky on Sunday. Nevertheless, with the help of advanced NASA equipment, there will be live-streams available online for viewing this intriguing event. Click the link to view an animation of the asteroid’s orbit: http://www.space.com/27022-60-foot-asteroid-to-give-earth-very-close-shave-orbit-animation.html
Yet once the asteroid passes earth this Sunday, it won’t be the last we see of our little icy friend. Asteroids have a set orbit of “falling” to the sun due to its immense gravity and than whipping back only to orbit once more. That means in the future, earth will indeed have another encounter with Asteroid 2014 RC. As of right now, scientists do not detect any future danger of impact on Earth from similar close encounters with 2014 RC .
Earth is a precious oasis in space. It is events like these that open our minds to the dangers of of our universe!
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Keeping looking to the stars,
– Julia
(SOURCES: Space.com, Universe Today)
