Asteroid 2003 MH4 to Make Close Flyby of Earth in 2025
Aspect | Details |
---|---|
Asteroid Name | Asteroid 2003 MH4 (officially (387746) 2003 MH4) |
Classification | Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA), Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA) |
Discovery Year | 2003 |
Size | Approximately 335 meters (1,100 feet) in diameter |
Speed | 14 kilometers per second (50,400 kilometers per hour) |
Close Approach Date | May 24, 2025 |
Close Approach Time | 10:37 UTC (4:07 PM IST) |
Close Approach Distance | 6.68 million kilometers (17 times the Earth-Moon distance) |
Orbital Group | Apollo group (Earth-crossing orbits) |
Monitoring Agencies | NASA's CNEOS, PDCO, ESA, Pan-STARRS, Catalina Sky Survey, NEOWISE, Goldstone |
Monitoring System | Sentry Impact Monitoring System |
Potential Impact Effects | Comparable to Tunguska event (1908), regional devastation, global effects |
Planetary Defense Initiatives | DART mission (2022), kinetic impactors, gravity tractors, nuclear deflection missions |