A large asteroid is expected to pass within 1.93 million kilometers of Earth on Tuesday, according to NASA.
The asteroid known as 7482 (1994 PC1), which was discovered in 1994, is about one kilometer wide or “bridge size” as NASA called it.
NASA says the asteroid will again make a pass by Earth in July, but it won’t be as close. The space agency says the asteroid will again pass our planet on Jan. 18, 2105, when it is projected to come within 2.32 million kilometers.
The closest known approach of an asteroid happened on Jan. 17, 1933, when one passed within 1.12 million kilometers of Earth
Even at its closest, 7482 (1994 PC1) won’t be visible without the aid of a small telescope.
Nancy Chabot, chief planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, told CBS News that there are about 25,000 near-Earth asteroids that are at least 152 meters wide. Were one of those to impact Earth, it would be “devastating,” she said.
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