The Planet KILLER Asteroid.

Astronomers have spotted three near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) hiding in the glare of the Sun. One of these asteroids is the largest ‘potentially hazardous’ object.


Near-Earth objects (NEOs) are asteroids or comets of sizes ranging from metres to tens of kilometres that orbit the Sun and whose orbits come close to that of Earth’s.





Most of the asteroids in the solar system are in the ‘Asteroid belt’ between Mars and Jupiter.


The 3 spotted near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) are LJ4, 2021 PH27 and 2022 AP7.

These NEAs are spotted between the orbits of Earth and Venus.

Amongst the trio, one 1.5-kilometre-wide asteroid called 2022 AP7 is a Planet Killer.Any NEA over 1km in size is considered a Planet Killer.

A Planet Killer could have a devastating impact on life and could also potentially lead to a mass extinction event.



• Potentially Hazardous Asteroid:


A potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA) is one whose minimum orbit intersection distance (MOID) with our planet is just 0.05 astronomical units.

In other words, PHA is a near-Earth asteroid which can pass within 50 million kilometres of Earth’s orbit.

The NEA also needs to be more than 140-metres wide to be classified as a PHA.


The following asteroids are believed to be the 5 largest PHAs known-


1. (53319) 1999 JM8


2. 3200 Phaethon


3. 4179 Toutatis 


4. (89830) 2002 CE


5. 3122 Florence



One astronomical unit (AU) is the distance between the Sun and our planet.


MOID is an astronomical measurement used to assess the chances of close approaches and collision between the two bodies.

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