The rock has come to be located only 3,600 kilometers from the earth’s surface
And truck-sized asteroid has passed this Thursday near Earth in one of the closest approaches ever recordedhave reported space scientists.
He to asteroid 2023 BUrecently discovered by an amateur astronomer, has passed over the southern tip of South America at around 4:29 p.m. local time (01:24 a.m. Spanish peninsular time), according to the North American space agency NASA. At its closest point, the rock has come to be only 2,200 miles (3,600 kilometers) from the earth’s surfacemuch closer than many geostationary satellites orbiting the planet.
The rock was discovered on Saturday from a observatory in Crimea by the amateur astronomer Gennady Borisovwho had already detected a interstellar comet in 2019Then dozens of sightings were made in observatories around the world, and the system of Scout impact risk assessmentof NASA, quickly ruled out an asteroid impact on Earth, the space agency said.
Despite making few observations, Scout was able to predict that the asteroid would “come extraordinarily close to Earth,” he said. Davide Farnocchiawho helped develop the Scout system.” In fact, this is one of the closest known approaches of an object to Earth ever recorded“, aggregate.
But even if the calculations had been wrong, humanity would have been safe, according to scientists. With a length of only 3.5 to 8.5 meters, 2023 BU is too small to cause significant damage and would have caught fire upon entering the atmosphere.
The few meteorites that have made it to land are small, not like the huge blocks that destroy cities and cause tsunamis in the movies. Its approach to Earth will have a more lasting impact on the asteroid, according to NASA mathematicians. The Earth’s gravity will extend the time it takes for the asteroid to complete the orbit around the Sun, from 359 days in the past to 425 days, according to NASA.
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