The 2022 AA Asteroid will fly past the Earth on February 4 or February 5, 2022, safely and without causing any danger to people, the National Research and Innovation Agency’s (BRIN’s) main researcher stated.

The asteroid will pass near the Earth on February 4 at 21:16 p.m. Universal Time (UT) or February 5 at 4:16 a.m. Western Indonesian Time (WIB), at a distance of 2,542,000 km from the Earth.

“It will not affect the people’s lives,” BRIN’s Space Research Center Main Expert Researcher, Clara Yono Yatini, noted.

The Minor Planet Center (MPC), under the International Astronomy Association, confirmed the discovery of the asteroid and named it 2022 AA, which means it is the first near-earth asteroid discovered in 2022.

The asteroid was discovered on January 1, 2022. The 2022 AA Asteroid is part of the Apollo asteroid family as the asteroid’s average distance exceeds the Earth’s average distance to the Sun.

The size of the 2022 AA Asteroid is not large, and the Earth will not be affected in any way by the passing of the asteroid, according to Yatini.

The asteroid will also not impact the space weather, as generally, it is primarily affected by the Sun, she elaborated.

In addition, it is affected by high energy particles and magnetic fields in the space between the Sun and the Earth, she stated.

Meanwhile, BRIN’s Space Research Center Researcher, Andi Pangerang, noted that the 71-m asteroid would be moving at a speed of 13,200 km per hour, as it passes near the Earth.

This distance is still larger as compared to the roche limit, he highlighted. The roche limit is the minimum distance for a sky object to maintain itself so as to not shatter into pieces.

This condition is driven by the tidal force that the asteroid experienced quite akin to the Earth’s gravitational force.

Source: Antara News