An asteroid baptized as 2012 TC4 and that could measure between 12 and 40 meters in diameter, that is, a considerable size, will pass dangerously close to our planet on October 12, 2017. The conclusions of the observations made by the experts have been published in the magazine A strowatch.net .
According to Judit Györgyey-Ries, an astronomer at the McDonald Observatory at the University of Texas (USA), the rock has a 0.00055% probability that it will reach us. For Detlef Koschny, director of ESA’s Near-Earth Objects (NEO) observing program, the probability is one in a million. Be that as it may, according to experts’ estimates, the asteroid will pass at a distance of between 13,200 and 433,200 kilometers from Earth.
The first time this asteroid approached our planet was in 2012 . It passed at a distance of 94,800 kilometers and a speed of 26.5 km / h. However, to find out exactly how far it will pass next time you need to make even more observations.
“Although it has a large uncertainty throughout the orbit, it is much smaller than the radial uncertainty, so only the time of the closest flyby changes. I would say that based on this, there is no possibility of impact in 2017, but more observations could help reduce the uncertainties, ” explains Makoto Yoshikawa of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
Asteroid 2012 TC4 is part of the list of potentially dangerous asteroids (a total of 1,572 asteroids of this type have been detected). Fortunately, none of them have an orbit that directly impacts our planet . However, the proximity of its passage through the Earth can cause, as has happened on other occasions, impacts such as the Chelyabinsk event, on February 15, 2013 or the well-known Tunguska event, in Siberia, in 1908.
