Recently, astronomers found three asteroids hidden in the Sun's glare. While all three could be potentially dangerous, one of the near-Earth asteroids has been classified as a 'planet killer' and named '2022 AP7'.
In the Astronomical Journal, Scott Sheppard and his colleagues at the Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, have classified '2022 AP7' as a potentially hazardous asteroid as it crosses Earth’s orbit.
It is important to note that though the asteroid has been marked as potentially dangerous, the dangers may happen centuries from today. It was also revealed that now Scott Sheppard and his colleagues are running a twilight survey studying the Earth’s and Venus’s orbit in search of asteroids.
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'2022 AP7': Some facts about the 'planet killer' asteroid
The diameter of the '2022 AP7' asteroid is between 1.1 km and 2.3 km.
'2022 AP7' is the biggest potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA) discovered since 2014.
It may likely be among the top 5% of the largest PHA.
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Will '2022 AP7' cause any potential danger?
Sheppard explained that any asteroid whose size is more than 1 km, falls under the 'planet killer' category therefore, '2022 AP7' is termed as dangerous. However, Sheppard assured that '2022 AP7' crosses Earth’s orbit when the Earth is on the Sun’s other side so there is no need to panic.
Will Earth witness any changes due to the discovery of the 'planet killer' asteroid?
Sheppard said that the orbit of '2022 AP7' is not completely known to predict if it poses any dangers, however, it may cross Earth’s orbit one day, centuries from now.
