The European Space Agency (ESA) has warned that Earth has a chance of hitting an asteroid in three years. The approaching asteroid was included in the space agency's risk list.
ESA's list of risks includes catalogs of near-Earth objects that may hit the planet in the future. One of the asteroids on the list is 2009 JF1.
According to the ESA database, the asteroid has a diameter of about 15.85 m and is currently traveling at 94,951.30 km / h, making it three times faster than the spacecraft's orbital speed.
The asteroid is expected to approach Earth on May 6, 2022, and will be within 0.08601 AU, or about 7.9 million kilometers from our planet. Although 2009 JF1 is expected to only fly past Earth, ESA has acknowledged that the asteroid has a chance of colliding with Earth.
In the case of JF1 2009, ESA is likely to foresee different scenarios for when the asteroid will change its course to Earth. Since the asteroid is not that big, it will hopefully burn up as soon as it enters Earth's atmosphere, causing it to shatter into tiny debris before hitting the surface.
