Closest Asteroid to Pass Earth in a Year Will Harmlessly Fly By on Thursday

The closest asteroid to pass by Earth in a year is set to fly by on Thursday – but don't worry, it will safely pass us. This asteroid, which is roughly the size of a school bus at 15 to 30 feet wide, according to a report from the Nasa Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, will make its closest approach to our planet on September 24, but fear not – Earth is in the clear. This is because when the asteroid flies by, it will still be roughly 22,000 miles away. The asteroid might, however, break apart while passing through the atmosphere, at which point, it could become a bright meteor known as a fireball. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=cosmos-possible-worlds-gallery&captions=true"] "There are a large number of tiny asteroids like this one, and several of them approach our planet as close as this several times every year," director of the institute's Center of Near-Earth Object Studies Paul Chodas said. "In fact, asteroids of this size impact our atmosphere at an average of about once every year or two." This asteroid, which has since been named 2020 SW, was spotted by scientists at the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona on September 18. At that time, its trajectory wasn't known, but further studies allowed the scientists at the Catalina Sky Survey to determine its orbital trajectory, which is when danger to Earth was ruled out. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/04/10/scientists-have-revealed-the-first-photo-of-a-black-hole"] The closest approach will happen at 4:12 a.m. PDT / 7:12 a.m. EDT / 12:12 p.m. BST on September 24 over the southeastern Pacific Ocean. The asteroid won't return to near Earth until 2041 after it makes a full journey around the sun. It's expected to not come nearly as close to Earth as it'll be on Thursday, when it returns in the future. For some additional science news, be sure to read about the possible signs of life detected on Venus and then read about how scientists detected extragalactic radio signals back in February. You can also check out this story about how some scientists have claimed evidence of a parallel universe where time runs backward. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes. 

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