The closest approach to the Earth in four centuries will be made in a few hours (at 02:46 Thursday Greek time) by the asteroid “2005 YY128” with a diameter of 580 to 1300 meters.

Our planet, fortunately, will remain safe, as this large space rock will fly by at a distance of 4.5 million kilometers, which is about 12 times the distance from the Earth to the Moon.

On February 16, a potentially dangerous asteroid (199145) 2005 YY128 at an altitude of 580-1300 meters will approach us at a relatively close and, obviously, safe distance, approaching 4.6 million km, which is 12 times greater than the average lunar distance.
LOOK HERE ☄️👇https://t.co/aeBcK705nt pic.twitter.com/8k7Ej0B2ZE

— Virtual Telescope (@VirtualTelescop) February 10, 2023

The asteroid was discovered in 2005 by American astronomers who have studied its orbit with great accuracy over the past 17 years, although there is some uncertainty about its exact dimensions. Its diameter is estimated from 580 meters to 1.3 km.

In any case, 2005 YY128 falls into the category of potentially hazardous asteroids, the designation given to space rocks at least 140 meters in size that approach less than 0.05 AU. km).

Asteroid 2005 YY128 is closest to Earth in over 400 years. The closest approach will be this Wednesday at around 7:46 pm EST and is bright enough for observers with a large telescope to spot: https://t.co/aNK30wubcs ☄️

📸 Stellarium. pic.twitter.com/QYOlksczAM

— Earth sky (@earthskyscience) February 14, 2023

Therefore, if this particular asteroid were to hit the Earth, it would cause incalculable destruction. It is estimated that space objects with a diameter of 140 meters to 1 kilometer can cause destruction from the local level to entire continents, killing hundreds of millions of people. An asteroid with a diameter of more than a kilometer can cause geological and climatic events (even extinction of species) on a global scale.

NASA and other space agencies estimate that they have detected at least 95% of asteroids larger than one kilometer in diameter approaching Earth at a distance of at least 50 million km. To date, none of them pose a threat in the foreseeable future, according to their trajectory calculations.

With information from space