The US space agency NASA said a small asteroid will pass very close to Earth Thursday, just 3,600 kilometers from our planet’s surface, within the orbit of most geostationary satellites.
In a release on its website, NASA said the object, known as 2023 BU, poses no threat to Earth. NASA added that even if the asteroid entered the atmosphere, it would turn into a fireball and mostly disintegrate harmlessly, with some larger pieces potentially reaching Earth’s surface as small meteorites.
NASA said the object measures 3.5 to 8.5 meters in diameter, representing one of the closest recorded near-Earth objects. This asteroid is expected to pass over the southern tip of South America at 12:27 GMT (Friday at 7:27 WIB). Experts say the object would not be visible to the naked eye without the aid of a high-powered telescope.
According to NASA, the asteroid was discovered and reported last Saturday by amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov, who operates an observatory in Nauchny, Crimea.
NASA said additional observations were reported to the Minor Planet Center (MPC) – the internationally recognized agency for determining the authenticity of the positions of small celestial bodies. MPC operates out of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts under the authority of the International Astronomical Union.
This data is automatically posted on the Near-Earth Object Confirmation Page website. In three days, several observatories around the world have made dozens of observations, helping astronomers to better determine the orbit of 2023 BU. [uh/ab]
