< br />
MOSCOW, September 9Potentially dangerous asteroid 349507 (2008 QY) with a diameter of up to 1.2 kilometers is approaching Earth again after 34 years, on October 3 it will fly at a distance of about six million kilometers from our planet, according to the website of NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies.
The asteroid 349507 (2008 QY) will make its closest approach to Earth on October 3 at 20:39 UTC (23:39 Moscow time). The minimum distance between the celestial body and the Earth will be 0.042 astronomical units or almost 6.3 million kilometers. Astronomical objects crossing the Earth's orbit at a distance of less than 7.5 million kilometers are considered potentially dangerous.
The diameter of the asteroid, according to scientists, can reach from 520 to 1200 meters. The object's speed is 20.96 kilometers per second.
Astronomers first noticed asteroid 349507 (2008 QY) on September 30, 1989. The object “disappeared” for 33.5 years, and the next time scientists observed it was on February 13, 2023.
The asteroid belongs to the Earth-crossers – asteroids crossing the Earth’s orbit. However, this does not mean that such an object will necessarily collide with a planet.
An astronomical unit is a unit of measurement of distances in space, equal to the average distance from the Earth to the Sun.
