2024-02-01 11:19:35
There are an estimated 1.1 to 1.9 million asteroids in the solar system’s asteroid belt, a wide expanse of space rock that lies between Mars and Jupiter, and sometimes the orbits of some of these asteroids can be changed due to Jupiter’s immense gravity and occasional encounters with Mars’ gravity.
These events can eject asteroids from the main belt and send them into space in all directions, from there toward Earth.
In this regard, the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics (IAC) recently studied an asteroid known as “2023 FY3” heading towards Earth at tremendous speed and is expected to collide with our planet.
According to the data, the asteroid “2023 FY3” is on a collision course with Earth and could hit our planet in the next hundred years, according to scientists.
The asteroid was discovered in April 2023, and researchers from the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics and the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) recently published their results in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
They found that although the size of the asteroid does not pose a major threat, its path is similar to the path of other asteroids heading towards Earth.
For his part, Dr. Raul de la Fuente Marcos, a researcher at Complutense University in Madrid, said: “We are particularly interested in asteroids with a size between 100 meters and one kilometre, which are those that could cause regional damage in the event of a hypothetical collision.
He added, “Now that we know the composition of its surface, we have a fairly accurate idea of its size. We know that it is rotating rapidly, and this means that we can classify it as a possible part of a larger asteroid. We also know that it has undergone an orbital resonance with our planet.” (Orbital resonance occurs when two rotating objects exert a periodic gravitational influence on each other.)
The asteroid is five meters long, and although this is relatively small for an asteroid, it does not negate the fact that it is heading towards Earth very quickly, according to what was reported by the Express newspaper.
Given their distance from the sun, the average speed of asteroids emerging from the asteroid belt ranges between 17 and 25 kilometers per second, an astonishing number that ranges from 38,029 miles (61,201 km) to 55,925 miles (90,000 km) per hour.
“2023 FY3” was spotted during observations carried out using the “Gran Telescopio Canarias”, a powerful large-aperture telescope capable of studying the smallest space rocks.
It took two months to analyze their findings before releasing the data to the public.
Scientists believe that “2023 FY3”, which is part of the “Arjuna asteroids” (asteroids with Earth-like orbits and orbital periods approximately equal to an Earth year) could collide with Earth during the next century.
It is noteworthy that “2023 FY3” is not the only asteroid heading towards Earth on a collision course, as many asteroids are expected to approach us before the next hundred years.
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