On April 1 , an asteroid big enough to do some serious damage will make its closest recorded coming to the Earth . In the spirit of April Fools , 2007 FF1 is just kidding , however , return 19 times as far from us as the Moon .
Closer passes by asteroids are vulgar , but the reason this one is notable is not just the date of its closest attack . 2007 FF1 is at least 82 meters ( 270 feet ) in diam , and possibly as much as 260 meters ( 660 feet ) across . It ’s potentially up to two - third the diam of99942 Apophis , broadly speaking considered the asteroid top of our trouble list . We may have more precise estimates after it has exceed by , but either way , this is a outer space rock large enough we need to keep an eye on it .
The rock’n’roll is small compared to the dino - sea wolf , and certainly not with child enough to finish civilisation , Nevertheless , 2007 FF1 could decimate a city and plentifulness of dominion around it if it hit on land , or create tsunamis on a scurf humanity has never construe in the more potential event of an ocean splashdown .
With an orbital menses of 1.9 years , 2007 FF1 is a even visitor to the vicinity of Earth ’s orbit , but often we ’re on the other side of the Sun when it come on . At a distance of 7.4 million klick , this yr ’s enactment is less than half the distance of its 2020 pass . It will arrive very slimly further from Earth in 2037 . After that it wo n’t get within 17 million kilometer until March 2144 , and not much closer then .
Even your grandchildren are unlikely to have to worry about this rock , whether or not they ’re dwell in satellite cities in blank by then .
Although its current orbit does not allow it to touch on Earth , gravity from planets and pressure from sunlight will slowly change 2007 FF1 ’s path . Like otherApollo class asteroids , 2007 FF1 will keep hanging around the inner Solar System until it either runs into a planet or a close approach radically changes its orbit .
Looking far enough into the future , the odds are on an eventual hit with Earth , the Moon , or Mars , and we ’re the swelled butt in that curing .
recreational astronomers will fight to spot it , even at its closest , but professional lookout station are get across its passage far into the northern sky to calculate its size and area more precisely .
If we are to treat 2007 FF1 as a sentient being , however , it would appear it does n’t roll in the hay the well - established dominion that April Fools day jokesrebound on the makerafter midday . away from the population of Hawaii , the world will be well past midday when the airless overture come about at 9:35 GMT .
