Potentially Hazardous Asteroid to Flyby Earth's Orbit on Halloween

Asteroid 2022 RM4, a potentially hazardous asteroid, is set to pass by Earth's orbit on Halloween, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The space rock is not projected to hit our planet and disrupt our spooky plans. However, its size is not to be mess with having an estimated diameter between 1,083 and 2,428 feet, which is even larger than the Empire State Building.

Despite the relatively large size of 2022 RM4, it is not deemed dangerous by space authorities since its trajectory does not support a direct asteroid strike to Earth. The latest space news comes a month after NASA successfully completed the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission on September 26. The DART mission serves as the first-ever planetary defense method against near-Earth objects.

Halloween Asteroid

The closest approach we can make for the approaching space object will be in the range of 1.43 million miles (2.3 million kilometers) from Earth, which is six times the average distance between the Blue Planet and our Moon. In cosmic standards, such distance is very near, according to Live Science. Furthermore, its speed will be around 52,500 miles per hour (84,500 kilometers per hour) during the its flyby.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory showed that Asteroid 2022 RM4 was first observed on September 12 and last observed on Wednesday, October 26, this year. Yet, the celestial body is no stranger to NASA astronomers. In fact, it has a track record of flying not only to Earth but also Jupiter in previous decades. There is also a potential chance it will flyby Earth again in November 2045, 2068, and 2095.

Also Read: Asteroid Hits Off the Coast of Iceland, Becoming the Fifth Known Earth Impactor

Potentially Hazardous Asteroids

Also abbreviated as PHA, potentially hazardous asteroids can also be called near-Earth asteroids (NEA) that has a small chance to hit Earth and cause significant damage, at some point in the future, according to the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. This grim reality is imminent and is only a matter of time. Still, its main cause is the relative proximity of an NEA to our planet.

The latest PHA and NEA that struck our planet occurred back in March, when Asteroid 2022 EB5 fell from the sky and hits the coast of Iceland, becoming the "fifth known Earth impactor." The bizarre case of this asteroid impact is that space authorities only noticed its approach in a short timeframe, as claimed by media reports at that time.

In its meteor form, 2022 EB5 likely dissipated after entering Earth's atmosphere before it could make ground or water contact on the surface.

DART Mission

The last planet-killing asteroid struck our planet 66 million years ago, wherein the Chicxulub crater in Mexico being the evidence of a 10-kilometer-wide space rock hitting our planet. Although rare, astronomers believe the likelihood of another event could take place again in the future.

With this, NASA spearheaded the DART mission with the hope of deflecting the trajectory of an approaching asteroid through kinetic impact. The planetary defense test took around 10 months before its aircraft reached the minor-planet moon Dimorphos and altered its orbit around the NEA Didymos.