The asteroid described by astronomers as a “potential danger” is relatively close, but safe, and will approach Earth soon next week. The diameter of the asteroid, the space rock, called 138971 (2001 CB21) is estimated at 3,940 feet, making it larger than the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
According to reports, the asteroid is expected to reach its closest point to Earth on March 4 at 02:59 ET. At this point, it is expected to be traveling at more than 26,800 miles per hour, according to NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS).
While news of asteroids approaching Earth may worry anyone, the good news is that they pose no danger to us. The report notes that the asteroid is not expected to approach Earth by about 3 million miles, which is more than 12 times farther than the Moon.
Furthermore, the asteroid may not be as large as its peak thought. It is assumed that there is a large margin of error in the calculations regarding the size of the asteroid. The lower estimate is more modest—though still large—at 1,837 feet.
However, the new 2001 CB21 attracted a lot of attention and an astronomer took its picture in late January as it approached Earth from a distance of more than 21.5 million times. Now that the asteroid is so close, the same astronomer can click on the image of the asteroid again.
Newsweek reports that Gianluca Massi, an astronomer with the Virtual Telescope Project in Italy, clicked on the 2001 CB21 image on February 23, when it was about 6.2 million miles away. See the picture here. The asteroid in the image can be seen as a white dot in the image (center), indicated by a white arrow. The image is taken from a single 120-second exposure shot taken remotely using the 17° PlaneWave robotic telescope unit.
“The telescope has tracked the apparent motion of the asteroid, so that it looks like a sharp point, with the surrounding stars appearing to be slightly elongated,” the Virtual Telescope Project website says, citing Newsweek. “At the top left, the stars from the spherical group NGC 5466 are also visible,” he added.
Newsweek reports that a time-lapse video of the asteroid moving through space has also been compiled from 139 images collected during the observation session.
“The state-of-the-art technology we use makes our telescopes one of the best on the planet for tracking and sharing even the fastest and most demanding asteroids. People often ask us why the number of NEOs seems to be increasing in the past. [few] Many years. In fact, constantly improving technology allows us to identify smaller and smaller things that we previously missed,” Massey told Newsweek.
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