Updated: April 12, 2023
A massive asteroid is set to pass close to Earth, drawing the attention of satellites. Asteroid 436774 (2012 KY3), or 2012 KY3, will pass Earth on its way around the Sun on April 13, passing at a distance of 47,844,139 kilometres.
Asteroids are rocky fragments that remained after the solar system formed about 4.6 billion years ago.
2012 KY3 is a Near Earth Object (NEO) that ranges in size from half a kilometre to just over a kilometre. According to the Nasa Joint Propulsion Laboratory, an asteroid is classified as a near-Earth object if its distance from our planet is less than 1.3 times the distance from Earth to the Sun (the Earth-Sun distance is approximately 93 million miles) (JPL).
The asteroid is classified as a "planet killer," because asteroids larger than a kilometre in width are capable of surviving entry into Earth's thick atmosphere. However, 2012 KY3 will pose no threat to Earth because it will pass by at a distance of over 47 lakh kilometres.
Although the asteroid was discovered in 2012, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory has been tracking its movement since 1904. The last time this asteroid came close to Earth was in January 2019, when it was 6,828,436 kilometres away. The next time it comes this close to Earth will be in 2025.
The asteroid's orbit around the Sun lasts four years.
While the asteroid will safely pass by Earth, scientists have developed the ability to divert an asteroid if it is on a collision course with the planet. NASA recently conducted a test of its asteroid-killing mission, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), which slammed into an asteroid to slightly divert it from its path and change its orbit.
DART was the first space mission to show asteroid deflection using a kinetic impactor.
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