“2008 OS7” is the name of the asteroid that will make a close encounter with our planet on Friday, February 2 of this year. 15.41 Polish time. But according to astronomers, we can sleep soundly because the flight distance will be 2.8 million kilometers.
The asteroid will pass near us at a speed of about 18 kilometers per second. The size of the object is estimated at 210 to 480 metres, so it is a relatively rare occurrence, compared to almost daily close-up images of objects with smaller diameters, for example several metres.
An asteroid approaching Earth. We know the details
The asteroid orbits the sun for approximately 2.6 years. It belongs to the Apollo group, that is, a group of near-Earth asteroids whose orbits intersect not only with the orbit of our planet, but also with the orbit of Venus, and sometimes even with the orbit of Mercury. The group's name comes from the asteroid (1862) Apollo. Astronomers know approximately 19,000 asteroids of this type.
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