There will be a total lunar eclipse next night. In Poland, we will see them as partial, when the Earth’s natural satellite is already setting. Just before this phenomenon, our planet will be passed by a huge asteroid 2008 TZ3. The object is rushing at a speed of almost 30,000 kilometers per hour.
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Asteroid 388945 (2008 TZ3) will approach our planet by about 5.8 million kilometers, according to NASA’s Near Earth Research Center (CNEOS). It will take place on Sunday, May 15, when it will be 23.18 in Poland, a few hours before the total lunar eclipse. Scientists estimate that the asteroid’s diameter is more than 480 meters.
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“The 2008 TZ3 will fly about 15 times the distance from Earth to the Moon,” Paul Chodas, director of CNEOS, told US Newsweek. “We know the orbit of this asteroid very accurately, and we can confidently predict that on May 15 it will not come closer than about 15 lunar distances,” he added.
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The asteroid is classified as one of the so-called Near-Earth Objects, and is so large and has an orbit that is considered Potentially Hazardous Asteroids.
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“We have predicted her rapprochement this month for over a decade.”
Scientists from CNEOS estimate that as the asteroid approaches Earth, it will move at a speed of about 29,451 kilometers per hour.
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The asteroid was discovered on October 6, 2008 by the Mount Lemmon Survey, an astronomy program that is part of the Catalina Sky Survey to find and catalog near-Earth objects. Scientists have been following the 2008 TZ3 for over 13 years.
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“We have predicted its rapprochement this month for over a decade because the orbit of this asteroid is well known,” said Chodas.
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2008 TZ3 passed the Earth at even smaller distances than this year already several times: in 2016, 2018 and 2020. The 2018 close-up was the greatest of all, as the asteroid passed our planet six distances from the Earth to the Moon.
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Orbita asteroidy 2008 TZ3ssd.jpl.nasa.gov
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