Potentially hazardous asteroid approaching Earth

Potentially hazardous asteroid headed towards Earth (photo: pixabay.com)

A large asteroid named 2024 CR9 is approaching Earth. It will come within a relatively close distance in just a few days. Astronomers have assigned it the status of Potentially Hazardous, according to The Virtual Telescope Project.

This asteroid received this status because of its size. Astronomers point out that the space body reaches from 350 to 750 meters.

Objects that can come closer than 7,840 kilometers or have a diameter of more than 140 meters become dangerous for the Earth.

Asteroid 2024 CR9 will approach the Earth at a relatively close distance on June 11, two minutes before midnight on Tuesday. The distance is expected to be 7.4 million kilometers. According to scientists, it will not pose any risks to the Earth. It will also move 19 times further than the Moon.

On June 6, Italian astronomers captured this asteroid in photographs. In the images, it looks like a white arrow against the background of bright stars, because the instruments tracked the space object in dynamics.

The arrow marks the asteroid in motion (photo: VIRTUAL TELESCOPE PROJECT)

At this point, the asteroid was at a distance of about 7.8 million years from Earth and continued its slow approach.

The asteroid was first detected on February 15, 2024, using instruments at a station in Hawaii.

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