A total of four asteroids passed Earth yesterday as their orbits brought them very close to the planet. The most famous asteroid was designated by NASA as Asteroid 2023 Catalina Sky Survey. With the help of this advanced technology, NASA has again discovered an asteroid which is expected to pass closely to Earth today, December 13. Learn the details of this close encounter with asteroid 2023 XH7.
Asteroid 2023 XH7: Approach details
According to details released by NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), asteroid 2023 XH7 is expected to pass Earth at a distance of only 940,148 kilometers. It has traveled towards Earth in orbit at a speed of 71,276 kilometers per hour, almost as fast as a spaceship!
This space rock is included in the Apollo group of near-Earth asteroids, namely space rocks that intersect the Earth with their semi-major axis being larger than the Earth’s axis. This asteroid is named after the large asteroid Apollo of 1862, which was discovered by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth in the 1930s.
According to NASA, asteroid 2023 XH7 has passed Earth before and this is not its first close approach to Earth. This asteroid passed Earth for the first time in history on July 5 2020 at a distance of approximately 9.7 million kilometers. After today, it will approach Earth again on July 22 2033 at a distance of 63 million kilometers.
NASA claims this asteroid does not pose a threat to Earth because of its relatively small size. At just 34 feet wide, Asteroid 2023 XH7 is the size of a bus. On the other hand, asteroids measuring more than 150 meters and passing Earth at a distance of less than 7.5 million kilometers are classified as “potentially hazardous objects”.
How does NASA track asteroids?
When NASA telescopes such as the NEOWISE telescope, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), Pans-STARRS1, and the Catalina Sky Survey track new near-Earth asteroids (NEA), astronomers measure the positions of the observed asteroids in the sky and report them to Minor Planet Center. According to NASA, the Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) then used this data to determine the most likely orbit of the asteroid around the Sun.
2023-12-13 05:48:48
#NASA #bussized #asteroid #pass #Earth #short #distance #details #close #encounter #IndoChinatown
