Written in SCIENCE he
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, better known as NASA, announced that todayWednesday, January 26, a potentially dangerous asteroid it will pass very close to Earth, specifically near South America. This celestial body is the size of a bus and here we detail it what time it is expected to approach our planet and whether or not there are risks from this object that is “one of the closest approaches” to our home.
It’s about a asteroid 3.5 by 8.5 meters, a size very similar to a bus and although it is considered potentially dangerous Because it will be one of the closest encounters of its kind ever recorded so far, NASA assured that there is no risk of impact with Earth, so it does not pose a threat to humans, especially those living in South America. area through which it will pass very close.
The newly discovered asteroid will pass within 3,600 kilometers of the planet’s surface, south of South America, a distance 10 times closer than communication satellites orbiting above that area at around 6:27 p.m. Central Mexico time. today, January 26, 2023.
What is the RISK of asteroid 2023 BU passing so close to Earth TODAY?
NASA asked the population not to be scared because there is no risk that the asteroid impact against the Land, and even if it did, being such a small body, upon entering the planet it would become a ball of fire that would rapidly disintegrate harmlessly into the atmosphere, although some of the larger debris could later fall as small meteorites.
According to the space agency, the asteroid was discovered by amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov, from his MARGO observatory located in Nauchnyi in Crimea on Saturday, January 21 of this year. After the discovery, dozens of observatories around the world made multiple observations in order for astronomers to accurately define the orbit of the celestial body called 2023 bu.
It was the Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) located at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in southern California that analyzed the data and predicted the probability that the asteroid can hit the Land, but without greater risk, due to its small size. This organism is the one that is in charge of evaluating the possible risks of impacts of celestial bodies with the help of the Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO) of NASA.
“CNEOS was able to predict that the asteroid it would come extraordinarily close to Earth, in fact, this is one of the closest approaches of a known near-Earth object ever recorded,” said Davide Farnocchia, a navigation engineer at JPL.
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