Monday, May 30, 2022

Mile-wide asteroid, the largest yet of 2022, flies safely by Earth

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Mile-wide asteroid, the largest yet of 2022, flies safely by Earth

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There were no worries whatsoever about the space rock, which passed by at a very safe distance.

A time-lapse image of asteroid 7335 (1989 JA) passing by Earth on May 27, 2022.
A time-lapse image of asteroid 7335 (1989 JA) passing by Earth on May 27, 2022. (Image credit: Virtual Telescope Project)

A mile-wide asteroid passed by Earth on Friday (May 27) at a distance about 10 times that of the space between the Earth and moon.

The asteroid, known as asteroid 7335 (1989 JA), is roughly four times the size of the Empire State Building and is the largest yet to pass by our planet in 2022. Viewers were able to catch the event live online through the Virtual Telescope Project (you can watch the feed embedded below), thanks to a new collaboration that includes telescopes in Chile, Australia and Rome.

"These two live feeds covering 1989 JA were possible thanks to the brand new
cooperation between the Virtual Telescope Project and Telescope Live," founder Gianluca Masi told Space.com. "They have several telescopes around the planet, under amazing skies."

Related: The greatest asteroid missions of all time(opens in new tab)

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(Image credit: Celestron)

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At its closest, the asteroid was 2.5 million miles (4 million kilometers) away and it posed no threat whatsoever to our planet, despite its large size of 1.1 miles (1.8 km) across. It was bright enough to see in moderate-sized telescopes.

Improving tracking of these relatively small space rocks means we are getting better at catching any potential impacts before they happen, which is why it seems like there are so many space rocks going by us these days.

While asteroid 7335 (1989 JA) is technically classified as "potentially hazardous(opens in new tab)," that wasn't meaning to indicate an imminent threat to our planet. The designation refers to asteroids that are larger than 492 feet (150 meters), and the distance at which the asteroid approaches Earth, among other factors.

RELATED STORIES:

— Best asteroid movies, ranked
— Asteroid that killed the dinosaurs: Likely origin and what we know
— The greatest asteroid missions of all time!

Space agencies and telescopes around the world keep an eye on space rocks. This includes NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office. You can keep track of other prominent upcoming flybys(opens in new tab), the curated list of asteroids(opens in new tab) that have a statistically improbable chance of impact, and the agency's Small-Body Database(opens in new tab) to learn more about asteroids in general.

NASA has found no immediate threats to worry about in the next 100 years, although the agency keeps its eye on the sky just in case.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook. 

Elizabeth Howell
Elizabeth Howell 
Elizabeth Howell is a regular contributor to Live Science and Space.com, along with several other science publications. She is one of a handful of Canadian reporters who specializes in space reporting. Elizabeth has a Bachelor of Journalism, Science Concentration at Carleton University (Canada) and an M.Sc. Space Studies (distance) at the University of North Dakota. Elizabeth became a full-time freelancer after earning her M.Sc. in 2012. She reported on three space shuttle launches in person and once spent two weeks in an isolated Utah facility pretending to be a Martian.
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