PHA Close Approaches To The Earth

Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) are asteroids that will pass very close to earth. The link is to the list ordered in ascending distance order. Aphophos will pass Earth at about 21,000 miles in the year 2029. This is very close, and I think will be very scary. I will be 78 years old then. There’s another close one in 2027 when I am 76.

The top three asteroids on the list will pass within the orbit of the moon. I hope that they have done a calculation so that we will know if one of them hits the moon. Splash from a lunar impact could be almost as dangerous as the asteroid hitting Earth.

(The distances are in Astronomical units (AU). 1 AU is approximately the mean distance of the earth from the sun = 149597870 km = 92955810 miles.)

PHA Close Approaches To The Earth