An asteroid passed closer to Earth than a satellite

Think of a minibus or, better yet, an elephant… wandering around in close space a land Several thousand kilometers above the surface of the planet. This happened today at 2:30 am Greek time, as announced NASA with his picture asteroidlabeled “2023 BU,” was broadcast live via instrumental telescopes.

He also comments on BBCthe asteroid passed Earth “right” a few hours ago, and if an amateur astronomer had not discovered it, we would not have taken it for granted …

About the size of a minibus, the space rockknown as 2023 thisIt passed over the southern tip of South America at a distance of 3,600 km from the Earth’s surface. The asteroid was estimated to be 3.5 to 8.5 meters in diameter, and it disintegrated high in the atmosphere, forming a spectacular fireball.

It is worth noting that the gravity of our planet pulled the asteroid 2023 BU and “adjusted” its path in space. “Before you meet the Earth, its orbit asteroid around it helium It was nearly circular, approaching Earth’s orbit, and took 359 days to complete its orbit around the sun,” the US space agency said in a statement.

The asteroid was discovered on January 21 by an amateur astronomer Gennady Borisovwhich operates in Crimea, which Russia captured from Ukraine in 2014.

from her side , NASA He was quick to reassure the international community that there was no danger to our planet. “A small near-Earth asteroid that will have a very close encounter with our planet, on the southern tip of South America,” and it is estimated that it is only 3,600 km from the Earth’s surface. This is less than 3% of the average distance between the Earth and the Moon. It may seem like a long distance, but this asteroid will be the fourth closest planet to pass by Earth since records began.”

Explaining the Reasons We Don’t Need to Worry, h US Space Agency specified, among others:

“It is a small asteroid, 3.5 to 8.5 meters in diameter. It appears to be the size of an elephant. Asteroids less than 25 meters in size are likely to burn up, causing little or no damage to Earth. The asteroid was discovered last Saturday by the astronomer Amateur Gennady Borisov from Crimea, who also discovered interstellar comet 2I/Borisov in 2019. This was followed by observations of “2023 BU” by dozens of other observatories around the world. The final analysis of its orbit data was done by the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS). CNEOS) at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California.”

However, US researchers predicted that the asteroid would pass unusually close a land.

It should be noted that asteroids are considered remnants of the formation of the solar system, and they number in the millions. We can describe them as huge rocks that revolve around the sun and range in size from a few tens of meters to hundreds of kilometres.

It is reported that in 2013, the asteroid that entered the Earth’s atmosphere over southern Russia near the city of Chelyabinsk was an object about 20 meters wide and in its “passage” caused a shock wave that smashed the windows of many houses into the ground.