A large asteroid 2007 MK6, whose diameter ranges from 200 to 600 meters, flying at a relatively large distance from our planet today at 10 am Moscow time, according to the minor planet Center of the International astronomical Union.
This celestial body discovered in 2007 by astronomers from the Observatory mount Lemmon in the United States, passed at the distance of 15.2 million kilometers from Earth, which suggests that it did not represent a special hazard to our planet. This distance corresponds to 40 the distance between the earth and the Moon.
This asteroid, according to various estimates, may be in the so-called Apollonovicha the family of small celestial bodies, and to be a close relative of another large object, near-Earth asteroid Icarus, which is about two times larger 2007 MK6, and its weight is close to three billion tons.
As the object approached the Earth at a fairly respectful distance, scientists do not consider him a threat and yet not make it to the PHA directory objects that are potentially dangerous for life on Earth.
To be among the PHA (Potentially hazardous asteroids), the heavenly body has to approach to our planet at a distance of not less than 8 million kilometers and to be large enough not to disintegrate when passing through the atmosphere and cause a catastrophe no less than a regional scale.
Interestingly, a 2007 MK6 could threaten the Earth and the other planet of the Solar system – Mars, with which it will converge in about a month, going the distance in a total of 1.33 million kilometers. The next meeting of 2007 MK6 with the planets of the terrestrial group will happen very soon, at the beginning of the next decade, 2020 and 2022.
