Have you ever been afraid that the predictions of science fiction films about the end of the world will come true?
Were you afraid that an asteroid would fall on you from space or that the inhabitants of other planets would invade us?
Have you heard the news of a huge asteroid approaching Earth and collision scenarios?
A familiar and safe asteroid
The "relatively large" asteroid is expected to pass near Earth next week on December 11, according to the report published by the "Science Alert" website.
Asteroid 4660 (4660 Nereus) is a relatively frequent visitor to near-Earth space, which means that it is well known, and its diameter is 330 meters, and therefore it is slightly larger than the height of the Eiffel Tower building.
Despite some exciting headlines, Nereus 4660 will hover at a safe distance of 3.93 million kilometres, which is just over 10 times the distance between Earth and the Moon.
Given its size and distance from Earth, Nereus 4660 has been classified as a potentially dangerous object, and this classification includes any asteroid that passes 7.48 million kilometers from Earth’s orbit, and its width is greater than about 140 meters, and there are many rocks in space that fall under This category.
So, why do we follow it?
There are many reasons to track such objects, including making sure they don't deviate from their known orbits to a more dangerous trajectory on Earth, and observing groups of asteroids to see what's going on around near-Earth space.
Nereus 4660 was first discovered in 1982, and it is an exceptional asteroid;
Not because it is dangerous, but because it flies close to the Earth with relative frequency (the ratio of the number of times an event occurs to the number of events that may occur in the same period).
Its orbit around the Sun - which is 1.82 years - brings it close to Earth about every 10 years, although the term "close" is still within the framework of being at a "safe distance" from a space perspective.
For this reason, the asteroid has been considered a target for asteroid missions, such as "Hayabusa", an unmanned spacecraft belonging to the Japan Aerospace Research Organization (JAXA) to study the formation of near-Earth asteroids and ended up on the surface of "Itokawa", which is also a nearby asteroid From the Earth's orbit around the Sun, instead of Nereus.
Comparing the diameter of the asteroid "Neros 4660" with some of the most important Earth features (Al-Jazeera / The Sun)
Closest visit ever
The visit of Nereus 4660 next week will be the closest to him in decades, and his next close visit will be on February 14, 2060, when he will fly at a distance of approximately 1.2 million kilometers (more than 3 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon).
While the asteroid does not pose any threat, it is best to be prepared, because it is believed that asteroids have significantly impacted Earth in the past.
Space agencies are working on it. Just last week, NASA launched a spacecraft on the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), a space mission that aims to study the use of a kinetic impact probe to alter the course of an asteroid. September next year.
So you can rest assured;
Asteroids that might land on your head aren't among the things to worry about right now, and if you're really worried, you can watch an approaching asteroid at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory website.