An immense space rock will approach Earth this Saturday (27), according to recent data. Named 152637 (1997 NC1), the asteroid has an estimated diameter of between 750 and 1,650 meters, drawing the attention of observers.
This size significantly exceeds that of the Chelyabinsk meteor, which impacted Russia in 2013, causing a notorious incident. On that occasion, the atmospheric explosion caused an intense shock wave, resulting in the breaking of windows in several locations and injuring around 1,500 people, most of them due to shrapnel.
Crucial details about the passage of asteroid 152637 (1997 NC1)
- Minimum distance:The object will pass 2,559,461 km from planet Earth.
- Speed:It moves at an impressive 8.9 km per second.
- Impact risk:There is no probability of collision with Earth.
- Discovery:The asteroid was first sighted in 1997.
- Estimated size:Its dimensions vary from 750 to 1,650 meters.
Scientists guarantee that there is no risk of impact on the planet
Despite the considerable size of the asteroid, the scientific community reassures the population, stating that there is no imminent danger. The European Space Agency (ESA) confirmed that the rock will pass approximately 2.56 million kilometers from our planet. This distance corresponds to around 6.6 times the average separation between the Earth and the Moon, a level considered completely safe by experts.
Asteroid 152637 (1997 NC1) is part of a group of more than 41,000 Near-Earth Objects (NEO) that are constantly monitored by astronomers. Celestial bodies are categorized as nearby when they move within 7.5 million kilometers of the planet. The number of records has a marked growth trend, largely driven by the entry into operation of the Vera Rubin Observatory, in Chile, which has already detected approximately 11,000 new objects in the Solar System in its initial testing phase, demonstrating the growing human capacity to identify and track these formations.
This approaching space rock is also part of the category of potentially hazardous asteroids (PHA). This classification is assigned to nearby space objects that have a diameter greater than 140 meters. Due to their size and relative proximity, these bodies are closely observed by scientists, as a possible collision would have enough energy to cause regional damage of great magnitude, similar to the incident that occurred in Russia 13 years ago.