Today, the asteroid BU 2023 will fly very close to Earth

A small space rock will fly very close to Earth tonight, but don’t worry, we’re all safe. It’s called a space stone. THIS 2023 first seen running Soil By the famous Crimean astronomer and astrophotographer Gennady Borisov, who found it on Saturday, January 21, 2018. first interstellar cometnow bears his name. Borisov.

The asteroid BU 2023 has Width only 11.5 to 28 feet (3.5 to 8.5 meters), so even if the two bodies’ orbits intersect, it would pose no risk to our planet. However, observations of BU 2023 by other astronomers after Borisov’s discovery confirmed that the asteroid would pass our planet a short but safe distance of 2,240 miles (3,600 kilometers). according to NASAThe stone will come as close as possible to the southern tip of South America today (January 26) at 7:27 PM EST (January 27 at 00:27 GMT).

At maximum approach, BU 2023 will be about ten times closer to the planet than the orbit of geostationary weather satellites and almost six times closer to the orbit of navigation satellites such as the ones below. USA GPS Group. This distance makes the pass of the rock the fourth-closest of any asteroid ever recorded, except for those that actually hit Earth.

BU 2023 poses no danger to the planet due to its small size. if entered to earth atmosphereoften burned in a striking fireball. A few small pieces could potentially survive and fall to the ground in the form. meteorites. The combination of the rock’s small size and the close proximity it will cross the much larger Earth means that 2023 BU’s trajectory will change slightly when the rock receives a gravitational jolt from the planet, NASA said.

Calculations based on recent observations show that the orbit of space wobbled around Earth prior to its visit. Sun It was “roughly circular” and lasted 359 days. earthly fascination BU will push 2023 into a more elliptical orbit that will take the rock halfway Anthem at the farthest point from the sun. This change will add another 66 days to BU 2023’s orbital period. Hundreds of professional and amateur astronomers are expected to watch the encounter this evening, and you can watch the approach closely.