An asteroid that was only discovered late last month by astronomers has come close to Earth, officials have confirmed.
The asteroid, recently named 2022 OE2, was discovered on July 26, and astronomers estimate the space rock to be roughly the size of two football fields — between 557 and 1,246 feet wide. If this asteroid collided with Earth, officials estimated it would release more energy than approximately 1,000 nuclear bombs. However, this will not happen as NASA has confirmed that its trajectory will not put it on a collision course with our little blue planet.
Officials have measured 2022 OE2 and found it will pass Earth at about 3.2 million miles, about 13 times the average distance between Earth and the Moon. 2022 OE2 safely passed Earth on August 4. If you’re wondering if Earth will be hit by large asteroids of this caliber, fear not, as NASA tracks thousands of space rocks like 2022 OE2 and, according to the space agency, there is no cataclysmic asteroid it knows of that will collide with Earth at least for the next 100 years.
Jack Connor
Jack joined the TweakTown team in 2017 and has since reviewed hundreds of new tech products and keeps us up to date with the latest science and space news every day. Jack’s love for science, space and technology, and especially for computer games, began at the age of 10. It was the day his father showed him how to play Age of Empires on an old Compaq computer. From that day on, Jack fell in love with gaming and the development of the technology industry in all its forms. Instead of the typical FPS, Jak holds a very special place in his heart for RTS games.
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