Asteroid 2018 DU
Every year researchers discovered a lot of asteroids and explains their effect on the earth. As usual, researchers discovered a massive asteroid has come close to earth. The asteroid 2018 DU will pass close to the Earth and it expected to come within 175,000 miles from the Earth on Feb. 25 at 18:22 UTC.
However, there could be little harm to a region if it falls on the Earth. According to researchers, it is the 17th time that a space rock has interfered with the Earth and the moon’s circle.
Researchers from Arizona locate the asteroid with the help of a Virtual Telescope Project and explain the asteroid around 10 meters wide. The team classified the asteroid 2018 DU as a Near-Earth Object (NEO).
Asteroid 2018 DU was discovered Friday Feb 23, it will safely pass Earth within 177k miles on Sunday Feb 25 at 1:22 pm EST. pic.twitter.com/tkVpbJktnB
— Tony Rice (@rtphokie) February 24, 2018
2018 DU as NEO
How researchers consider the 2018 DU as NEO? In our solar system, if any object approaches closer to the sun during perihelion considered as NEO if its distance is less than 1.3 AU (Astronomic Unit).
According to the reports, there are more than 100 near-Earth comets (NEC), 17,000 near-Earth asteroids (NEA) and a lot of meteoroids can be tracked before it reaches Earth.
While, in the 1980’s, scientists began to track and keep a record of the asteroids that might pose danger to Earth. Currently, The American space agencies started monitoring NEO of 1 kilometer and above which can destroy the planet.
NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office aims to track the space rocks and NEOs 30 to 50 meters in measure. According to the available data on Feb 5 2018, researchers tracked 96% of the assessed NEOs.
