Arecibo Observatory captures a radar picture of the asteroid 1998 OR2; the rock will be in Earth’s reach on April 29.
The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico got a radar picture of the asteroid 1998 OR2, on April 18, which will come within 3.9 million miles (6.3 million kilometers) of our planet on April 29.
Arecibo team members have been wearing masks in the workplace to help minimize the spread of the novel coronavirus, and they apparently see a bit of themselves in the approaching space rock.
“#TeamRadar and the @NAICobservatory staff are taking the proper safety measures as we continue observations. This week we have been observing near-Earth asteroid 1998 OR2, which looks like it’s wearing a mask! It’s at least 1.5 km across and is passing 16 lunar distances away!” team members shared on Twitter via the @AreciboRadar account. (@AreciboRadar is not an official Arecibo account. But @NAICobservatory is, and it retweeted the April 18 post.)
The Arecibo researchers aren’t the only ones keeping an eye on 1998 OR2. For example, Italian astrophysicist Gianluca Masi, who runs the online Virtual Telescope Project, has been tracking the asteroid as well.
Astronomers predict that 1998 OR2 is between 1.1 and 2.5 miles (1.8 to 4.1 kilometers) wide — huge enough that affect could endanger whole mankind. But, to repeat, there is nothing to fear here; the asteroid will miss us by a large margin on April 29.
NASA has found and tracked the vast majority of giant near-Earth asteroids, and none of them pose a threat to Earth for the predictable future.
