A tiny asteroid came 10 times closer to Earth than most man-made satellites on Thursday — and NASA is keeping a close watch on others..The asteroid, named 2023 BU, passed the southern tip of South America at 5:27 pm Mountain Time Thursday. At its closest approach, the asteroid was within 3,600 kilometres of the earth’s surface, a distance one-tenth the altitude of most satellites' orbits..The object, which is less than 8.5 metres wide, was discovered Saturday by amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov in Crimea. He was also credited with discovering an interstellar comet in 2019. The asteroid had a roughly circular 359-day orbit prior to its near-encounter with Earth. Its next trip around the sun will be more elongated and take 425 days. . This view from NASA’s Scout system shows the deflection of asteroid 2023 BU’s trajectory — in red — caused by Earth’s gravity. The orbit of geosynchronous satellites is shown in green, and the orbit of the Moon is depicted in grey.This view from NASA’s Scout system shows the deflection of asteroid 2023 BU’s trajectory — in red — caused by Earth’s gravity. The orbit of geosynchronous satellites is shown in green, and the orbit of the Moon is depicted in grey. .People worldwide watched the asteroid’s approach on the Virtual Telescope Project 2.0 and its YouTube channel. Its next live event is 9 pm Mountain Time Feb. 1, 2023 as the Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF passes by..NASA has had a running Near-Earth Object Observations Program for 24 years. The agency discovered 3,161 near-Earth asteroids in 2022, of which only 440 were larger than 140 metres. In all, 123 passed closer to earth than the Moon, and two hit Earth as what NASA called “harmless fireballs.” .On Sept. 26, 2022, NASA’s DART spacecraft impacted an asteroid in a planetary defense test. However, a simulation by the agency determined an asteroid would need to be nudged more than five years before impacting earth to prevent a collision with our planet. .NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory maintains an active visualization of thousands of asteroids and comets in real time which includes the next five near-misses of Earth. Despite its watchful eyes, NASA estimates it's probably spotted only 40% of objects that could wipe out a city as big as New York..On April 13, 2029, the asteroid 99942 Apophis will come within 32,000 kilometres of Earth’s surface, the closest a potentially hazardous object has ever been to the Earth. The object, which is 340 metres wide, is larger than the Eiffel Tower and will be visible to the naked eye by observers in the Eastern Hemisphere..NASA plans to send a spacecraft to observe the asteroid. OSIRIS-REx is on a mission to gather a sample of asteroid Bennu this year. After that, the craft will be renamed OSIRIS-APophis EXplorer (OSIRIS-APEX) and redirected to encounter Apophis during the asteroid's 2029 Earth flyby. OSIRIS-APEX will orbit Apophis soon after the flyby to get a close-up view. The spacecraft’s thrusters will be fired to dislodge dust and small rocks on and the surface of Apophis for further study. .Apophis was named for the demon serpent of evil and chaos in ancient Egyptian mythology. The asteroid travels at 30.73 km/s and if it did hit the Earth, it would release the energy of 1000 Hiroshima bombs..The asteroid was discovered on June 19, 2004 at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona and will make a second, more distant fly by of Earth on April 13, 2036.
A tiny asteroid came 10 times closer to Earth than most man-made satellites on Thursday — and NASA is keeping a close watch on others..The asteroid, named 2023 BU, passed the southern tip of South America at 5:27 pm Mountain Time Thursday. At its closest approach, the asteroid was within 3,600 kilometres of the earth’s surface, a distance one-tenth the altitude of most satellites' orbits..The object, which is less than 8.5 metres wide, was discovered Saturday by amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov in Crimea. He was also credited with discovering an interstellar comet in 2019. The asteroid had a roughly circular 359-day orbit prior to its near-encounter with Earth. Its next trip around the sun will be more elongated and take 425 days. . This view from NASA’s Scout system shows the deflection of asteroid 2023 BU’s trajectory — in red — caused by Earth’s gravity. The orbit of geosynchronous satellites is shown in green, and the orbit of the Moon is depicted in grey.This view from NASA’s Scout system shows the deflection of asteroid 2023 BU’s trajectory — in red — caused by Earth’s gravity. The orbit of geosynchronous satellites is shown in green, and the orbit of the Moon is depicted in grey. .People worldwide watched the asteroid’s approach on the Virtual Telescope Project 2.0 and its YouTube channel. Its next live event is 9 pm Mountain Time Feb. 1, 2023 as the Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF passes by..NASA has had a running Near-Earth Object Observations Program for 24 years. The agency discovered 3,161 near-Earth asteroids in 2022, of which only 440 were larger than 140 metres. In all, 123 passed closer to earth than the Moon, and two hit Earth as what NASA called “harmless fireballs.” .On Sept. 26, 2022, NASA’s DART spacecraft impacted an asteroid in a planetary defense test. However, a simulation by the agency determined an asteroid would need to be nudged more than five years before impacting earth to prevent a collision with our planet. .NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory maintains an active visualization of thousands of asteroids and comets in real time which includes the next five near-misses of Earth. Despite its watchful eyes, NASA estimates it's probably spotted only 40% of objects that could wipe out a city as big as New York..On April 13, 2029, the asteroid 99942 Apophis will come within 32,000 kilometres of Earth’s surface, the closest a potentially hazardous object has ever been to the Earth. The object, which is 340 metres wide, is larger than the Eiffel Tower and will be visible to the naked eye by observers in the Eastern Hemisphere..NASA plans to send a spacecraft to observe the asteroid. OSIRIS-REx is on a mission to gather a sample of asteroid Bennu this year. After that, the craft will be renamed OSIRIS-APophis EXplorer (OSIRIS-APEX) and redirected to encounter Apophis during the asteroid's 2029 Earth flyby. OSIRIS-APEX will orbit Apophis soon after the flyby to get a close-up view. The spacecraft’s thrusters will be fired to dislodge dust and small rocks on and the surface of Apophis for further study. .Apophis was named for the demon serpent of evil and chaos in ancient Egyptian mythology. The asteroid travels at 30.73 km/s and if it did hit the Earth, it would release the energy of 1000 Hiroshima bombs..The asteroid was discovered on June 19, 2004 at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona and will make a second, more distant fly by of Earth on April 13, 2036.
