Earth emerged unscathed from a major threat today. This afternoon, at around 2:15 PM, Asteroid 2014 RN16 skimmed past Earth at a mere 1.6 million kilometers distance. That's only about four times the distance to the moon. The 110-foot-wide rock was traveling at 104,761 km/hr. This asteroid belongs to the Apollo group, posing a continual threat to our planet.
This asteroid passes between Earth and the Sun, meaning it often comes incredibly close to our planet. The Apollo group asteroids were first discovered by Apollo in 1862, hence their name. A distinctive feature of these is their path crossing Earth's orbit. Had this 110-foot asteroid collided with Earth, the results would have been catastrophic.
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Source: aajtak
Once-in-999-Years Event Averted
NASA stated that had the 2014 RN16 asteroid entered Earth's atmosphere, it would have exploded at an altitude of 29 kilometers. It would have released energy equivalent to 16 megatons of TNT, creating a devastating shockwave. Such collisions are extremely rare, occurring once every 999 years. Fortunately, this asteroid merely brushed past Earth.
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NASA's Vigilant Monitoring and Tracking
NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) was diligently observing this asteroid. Additionally, the Minor Planet Center was also monitoring it. The Goldstone Solar System Radar was tracking it too, to ascertain its trajectory and speed accurately.
