Asteroid 2019 VF1, 150 m in diameter, to fly really close to Earth today at 9.40 pm

Asteroid 2019 VF1 is going to fly by the Earth today by 9.40 pm IST. However, fear not, it won’t be hitting us. An asteroid is a small rocky body that exists in the solar system and orbits the Sun. Asteroids are found in large numbers in the asteroid belt that exists between Mars and Jupiter. 2019 VF1 is around 150 metres in diameter, which means it’s a little smaller than an Olympic size swimming pool. [caption id=“attachment_6281661” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] An asteroid, a little smaller than an Olympic swimming pool will fly by the earth today.[/caption] It will move past us at a speed of 61,956 kph. The asteroid is expected to come no closer than 5,105,776 km, which is about 13 times farther from Earth than the Moon. The asteroid has been classified as a Near-Earth Object (NEO) by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab and was first noticed at the beginning of the year. Asteroids regularly make close approaches to Earth, and NASA creates alerts for each one of these objects. Sometimes several will even pass by in a single day – completely unnoticed by humanity. [caption id=“attachment_7695601” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] The orbit which the asteroid 2019 VF1 will be following. Image credit: NASA/JPL[/caption] A  NEO is a comet, asteroid or any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it in close proximity with Earth. If a NEO’s orbit crosses the Earth’s, and the object is larger than 140 meters across, it is considered a potentially hazardous object (PHO). NASA tracks these NEOs and maintains a database.