Astronomers have discovered a strange object orbiting the planet Earth, which is the asteroid 2023 FW13, which scientists classified as a quasi-moon, a space rock that orbits the sun with the Earth.
According to Live Science magazine, the space rock is called 2023 FW13, and it is considered a semi-moon, which means that it orbits the sun in a similar time frame as Earth does, but is only slightly affected by the gravity of our planet.
Its diameter is estimated at 15 meters – roughly the equivalent of three large SUVs parked on the bumper. During its orbit around the Sun, 2023 FW13 also orbits Earth, 14 million kilometers from our planet.
For comparison, the moon has a diameter of 2,159 miles (3,474 km) and lies within 226,000 miles (364,000 km) of Earth at its closest point in its orbit, according to NASA.
2023 FW13 was first spotted in March by the Pan-STARRS observatory, which is located atop the volcanic Mount Haleakala in Hawaii.
The asteroid’s existence was then confirmed by the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in Hawaii and two observatories in Arizona before it was officially listed on April 1 by the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center.
Some estimates suggest that 2023 FW13 has been Earth’s cosmic neighbor since at least 100 BC and that space rocks will continue to follow this orbital path until about AD 3700.
