QQ23 is a near-earth asteroid with a diameter of 568 meters and will pass within 7.5 mn km of the planet.
Don’t panic, we are not getting hit by an asteroid yet.
Yesterday, the European Space Agency (ESA) clarified that asteroid 2006 QV89 will not be hitting the earth, and today, reports of Asteroid 2006 QQ23 hitting us in August have popped up.
However, a study of the data shows that the asteroid is only going to perform a flyby on 10 August. It will do this at a distance of 0.04977 AU (astronomical units) which is equal to 7.45 mn km (the moon is 384,400 km away). However, it has been categorized as hazardous, which means that judging by its trajectory, there is a tiny chance that it will bump into our planet.
The asteroid is categorized under Atens which means that it is a near-earth asteroid with a semi-major axes that is smaller than Earth's. It has a diameter of 568 meters, which is taller than many skyscrapers. It is much bigger than the Chelyabinsk meteor that entered Russian airspace in 2013 and blew up in the atmosphere with a force of a small nuclear bomb.
QQ23 was first was observed on 21 August 2006.
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