WASHINGTON, KOMPAS.TV – An asteroid the size of a truck passed very close to Earth, only 3,600 kilometers from the earth’s surface, Thursday (27/1/2023) United States time or Friday, (27/1/2023) Indonesian time, as reported France24.
This pass is one of the closest any sizeable asteroid to Earth has ever been recorded, NASA said, stressing the asteroid poses no danger.
Asteroid 2023 BU, which was recently discovered by an amateur astronomer, will pass by its closest point on the southern tip of South America at around 4:27 p.m. PST on Thursday (0027 GMT Friday), according to NASA.
It will pass by only 3,600 kilometers from the Earth’s surface, much closer than many of the geostationary satellites orbiting the planet.
But there is no risk that the asteroid will crash into Earth, NASA said in a statement Wednesday, (25/1/2023).
Even if it did, the 3.5-8.5 meter asteroid would mostly disintegrate in Earth’s atmosphere, potentially producing only a few small meteorites.
The asteroid was discovered last Saturday from an observatory in Crimea by amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov, who previously spotted the 2019 interstellar comet.
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Dozens of observations were then made by observatories around the world.
NASA’s impact hazard assessment system quickly determined the asteroid would miss Earth, the US space agency said.
“Despite very few observations, it was predictable that the asteroid would make an unusually close approach to Earth,” said Davide Farnocchia of NASA who helped develop the Scout.
“In fact, this is one of the closest approaches by a near-Earth object ever recorded.”
The asteroid will come so close that its path around the Sun will change significantly.
Previously it took the asteroid 359 days to complete its orbit around the Sun, but after this close distance to Earth, it now takes 425 days, says NASA.
