A small asteroid will pass about 30,000 miles from Earth late tonight. Astronomers are tracking it to learn more about the asteroid and its orbit around the Sun. Plotting its orbit will let us know if the asteroid could hit Earth over the next few decades.
Asteroid 2012 TC4 is about the size of a house. That’s not as big as the asteroid that exploded over Russia back in 2013. So it most likely wouldn’t do much damage even if it did hit us — it would burn up or explode high in the atmosphere.
Many other asteroids that pass close to Earth are much bigger. If one of them hit us, it could cause damage on a local, regional, or even global scale. So astronomers have been scanning the skies for such asteroids for a quarter of a century.
They say they’ve found most of the ones that could cause global damage. Now they’re trying to find the ones that could cause more localized problems. Finding an asteroid long before it hits Earth could give us time to deflect it; more about that tomorrow.
2012 TC4 gives the asteroid-tracking networks a chance to refine their skills. So astronomers have been monitoring it since it got close enough and bright enough for them to see it clearly.
The asteroid will pass closest to Earth at 12:42 a.m. Central Time tomorrow. As astronomers track it, they’ll learn more about its size, mass, and composition — critical factors in determining how much of a threat any space rock poses to our planet.
Script by Damond Benningfield
Asteroid ndogo itapita umbali wa kilomita 30,000 hivi kutoka duniani usiku wa leo. Wataalamu wa nyota wanafuatilia sayari hiyo ili kujifunza zaidi kuhusu sayari hiyo na mzunguko wake kuzunguka Jua. Kuonyesha mzunguko wake kutatuwezesha kujua kama asteroid hiyo inaweza kugonga Dunia katika miongo michache ijayo. Asteroid 2012 TC4 ni ndogo sana na ina ukubwa wa nyumba. Hii ni kubwa kuliko asteroid iliyoporomoka juu ya Urusi mwaka 2013. Kwa hiyo yaelekea haingefanya uharibifu mwingi hata ikiwa ingehitimu - ingechomwa au kulipuka juu katika angahewa. Asteroidi nyingine nyingi zinazopita karibu na Dunia ni kubwa zaidi. Ikiwa mojawapo ya hizo itatupiga, inaweza kusababisha uharibifu wa mahali hapo, wa kikanda, au hata wa ulimwenguni pote. Kwa hiyo, kwa robo ya karne sasa, wataalamu wa nyota wamekuwa wakichunguza anga ili kupata sayari kama hizo. Wanasema wamepata wengi wa wale ambao wanaweza kusababisha uharibifu wa kimataifa. Sasa wanajaribu kupata zile ambazo zinaweza kusababisha matatizo ya ndani zaidi. Kupata asteroid muda mrefu kabla ya kugonga Dunia inaweza kutupa muda wa kuipuuza; zaidi juu ya hilo kesho. 2012 TC4 ni nafasi ya kuendeleza uwezo wa ufuatiliaji wa asteroid. Wataalamu wa nyota wamekuwa wakimchunguza tangu alipokaribia na kuwa na mwangaza wa kutosha kuweza kuiona kwa uwazi. Asteroid hiyo itapita karibu zaidi na dunia saa 12:42 asubuhi, saa ya Marekani. Wanastronomia wanapofuatilia, watajifunza mengi zaidi kuhusu ukubwa wake, wingi wake, na muundo wake - mambo muhimu katika kuamua ni hatari gani ambayo mwamba wowote wa angani unatoa kwa sayari yetu. Maandishi ya Damond Benningfield