Last Sunday, April 15, just a day after the astronomers discovered the object, the asteroid with the same size as the ones exploded in Russia had made its surprise flyby. The explosion took place in Russia’s Tunguska region in Siberia more than a hundred years ago. But the current space rock flyby had gave the Earth a closer look.
This asteroid, which is designated 2018 GE3 had made its nearest approach to the Earth at just around 2:41 in the morning and whizzing at a distance of about 119,400 miles or 192,000 kilometers – or about the half of the average distance between the moon and Earth. This statement is according to the Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) from NASA.
The space agency, NASA had made their estimation about the size of the asteroid. NASA said that it measures around 157-360 feet or 48-110 in meters wide. With that measurement, they concluded that this space rock could be 3.6 the size of the asteroid that levels the large portion of Siberian forests (500,000 acres) a hundred years ago when it explodes to Tunguska in the year 1908.
“If the 2018 GE3 hit the Earth, it might cause regional damage, a kind of damage that is too far cause damage to the world, and it might have been disintegrated in our atmosphere before it reaches the ground here on the region,” according to the report of SpaceWeather.com. “However, it is a kind of significant space rock that shows how large the asteroids can be and they might take us by surprise. The 2018 GE3 is found less compared to a day before its nearest approach.”
The space rock 2018 GE3 was initially spotted by the astronomers on Saturday, April 14, 2018, at 5:23 AM (EDT) at Catalina Sky Survey, a sponsored program by NASA at the University of Arizona, Tucson. The initial sighting of the space rock had happened 21 hours before it makes its closest approach to the Earth. Perhaps that is quite fast, and any asteroid found to appear near the Earth can have the same or less time to make its landing.
This is another story that the world has to share to the next generation, especially to those who love to study and learn about the space exploration and universe composition. Perhaps the space rock explosion is another Earth-devastating happening but an exciting story to tell.