An asteroid called Asteroid 2012 KY3 is approaching Earth, and NASA is warning people about it. Asteroids are small, rocky bodies that orbit the Sun and are not big enough to be classified as planets. Sometimes they are called planetoids or minor planets. Even though they are small, asteroids can be dangerous to Earth. One example of this is the asteroid that hit Earth and caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.
NASA has said that Asteroid 2012 KY3 is a giant stadium-sized asteroid that is coming towards Earth very quickly. Although it is expected to pass by Earth on April 13, it will be very close to our planet, just 2.97 million miles away. The asteroid is very large, almost 2200 feet wide, which is almost double the size of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
It was discovered on May 16, 2012, and belongs to the Apollo group of near-Earth objects. NASA’s Center for NEO Studies keeps a list of all near-Earth objects that are expected to come close to our planet. This list helps detect space rocks in advance and tag them as potentially hazardous objects.
Space rocks that approach within 4.6 million miles of Earth and are larger than about 150 meters are known as potentially hazardous asteroids. Asteroid 2012 KY3 falls into this category, which makes it a potential threat to Earth. It is traveling towards our planet at a speed of 63,186 kilometers per hour, according to CNEOS data.
To track asteroids, NASA uses a combination of ground-based and space-based telescopes. One system they use is called the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), which scans the night sky for moving objects and reports any potential asteroid sightings.
NASA also uses space-based observatories, like the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and the NEOWISE mission, which use infrared sensors to detect asteroids and gather information about their characteristics.