CLARK FREEPORT– An asteroid discovered in 2004 will pass by Earth on Jan. 26, the closest to Earth it can be for the next 200 years.
Engineer Dario de la Cruz, chief of the space science and astronomy section of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) told Punto that the space rock, codenamed 2004 BL86 is expected to be nearest at 1,198,705 kilometers from Earth at its nearest on Jan. 26.
“That seems to be far, but astronomically, that can be classified as a narrow encounter,” he said, noting that the asteroid was discovered on January 30, 2004, by astronomers operating the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research survey telescope in White Sands, New Mexico.
De la Cruz, in an interview with Punto,said that the discovery of such asteroids is significant,as they are then catalogued in astronomical laboratories and studied for their movements. “That way, we can calculate their orbit and know whether they could posesome danger to Earth in the future,” he added.
He noted that the Jan. 26 asteroid would be the closest any asteroid to fly by the Earth, until the predicted fly past of another rock, 1999 AN10, on August 7, 2027. The asteroid 2004 BL86 is not expected to fly by the Earth within 200 years after Jan. 26, he added.
But De la Cruz assured Filipinos that the asteroid on Jan. 26 would pose no danger to Earth at all. “It will be too far to be of threat,” he stressed.
“It is unfortunate that the asteroid on Jan. 26 would even be difficult to observe except with powerful telescopes or binoculars,” he also said.
News of the asteroid has been making it in Australia, since its flyby on Jan. 26 is also observed as Australia Day.
