Although the sky looks calm from Earth, there are thousands of asteroids wandering and surrendering to gravitational pulls. Scientists have found these stones try to keep many of them under observation.

But on July 13, something very interesting happened. named 2023 NT1 A meteorite with a diameter of 60 meters, passed Earth at a closer distance than our satellite moon. The scary thing is that this asteroid passed close to Earth. however, it was discovered on July 15.

The sun prevented us from observing the meteorite!

• Gray line: orbit of the moon, green line: path of 2023 NT1.

According to NASA data, the meteorite passed the Earth at a speed of about 86 thousand kilometers per hour. But this transition is not the same as telescopes tracking meteorites. As soon as they look straight into the sun took place.

The light from the sun greatly reduced the visibility of the telescopes. Therefore, at the moments when the meteorite passes, The whole world was unaware of this. The event was discovered thanks to the telescope, which is part of South Africa’s Asteroid Terrestrial Impact Final Warning System.

The telescope, which is responsible for detecting meteorites at risk of hitting Earth days and weeks ago, can only detect 2023 NT1. When you go away from the world captured. Soon dozens of other telescopes observed 2023 NT1.

Estimated 10-year route of 2023 NT1, It turns out that there is no risk of colliding with the Earth. In other words, even if we had discovered the meteorite in advance, the situation would not have been much different.

So, isn’t something being done about the situation that prevents us from observing meteorites?

This isn’t the first scenario where the sun prevents us from observing meteorites. That is why the scientific community remains committed to constantly monitoring these independent structures. European Space Agencyplans to launch a telescope that will be placed between the Sun and Earth in 2030.