2023-09-09 16:20:55
Last Thursday at 4:25 p.m. (French time), an asteroid passed very close to the Earth, just 4,002 kilometers away – regarding 100 times closer than the Moon and 5 times closer than the artificial satellites in orbit. Measuring almost 2 meters long, it was fortunately too small to pose a danger to our planet. In addition, the close passage changed its trajectory, so the probability of impact was estimated at 0%.
Named C9FMVU2, the small asteroid was initially discovered on the morning of Thursday, September 7, just a few hours before brushing past Earth at just 4,002 kilometers, at a speed of 13.6 kilometers per second. This distance represents approximately 1% of the Earth-Moon distance. For comparison, the US fleet of GPS navigation and positioning satellites orbit at an altitude of 20,200 kilometers.
Measuring approximately 2 meters long and 0.9 meters wide, C9FMVU2 is so small that only professional telescopes have allowed its observation. The peak brightness of the asteroid was only 12.7. It was only observable in the Northern Hemisphere, at its closest passage. From now on, no terrestrial device will be able to detect it because of its elongation (the apparent angle relative to the Earth), according to the European Space Agency (ESA).
An invitation to dream, ready to be worn.
The object was detected as it flew over the equator and then southeast Asia, a few hours before reaching the closest point, above the Arctic Ocean, near the archipelago of Svalbard. Currently, the asteroid is heading towards the Sun, making it even more unobservable. Its size and its trajectory mean that it poses no danger to us. ”
This poses no risk to us, Earth’s gravity will shape its trajectory forever », a announced on X (formerly Twitter) Richard Moissl, director of planetary defense at ESA.
A blind spot hindering the detection of asteroids
To date, more than 30,000 near-Earth asteroids have been detected, of which only regarding 2,300 are considered potentially dangerous. Indeed, the object must measure more than 140 meters long and have a trajectory taking it less than 20 lunar distances to truly represent a threat. However, when colliding with our planet, even smaller asteroids can cause damage. The Chelyabinsk asteroid (in Russia) in 2013, for example, broke thousands of windows and indirectly injured around 1,500 people, even though it was only 20 meters long.
Infographic showing the number of near-Earth asteroids recorded by NASA. ©NASA
Astronomers attempt to anticipate these impacts by mapping all detectable near-Earth asteroids and regularly performing deflection simulations. There latest was carried out in the first quarter of this year and modeled the approach to Earth’s orbit of an asteroid several hundred meters in diameter. The object’s trajectory scenarios were generated through NASA JPL/Aerospace’s NEO Deflection application, dedicated to studying near-Earth velocity changes. This type of analysis makes it possible to determine how and when to intervene to deviate the trajectory of the object and limit potential damage as much as possible. The application can also be configured to calculate the trajectories of kinetic impactors used to strike near-Earthers for deflection, as well as the mass of devices that can be launched on these trajectories.
The dangers of asteroid impacts according to size. © ESA
For real-world situations, different deflection devices are in place, such as NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART). Last year, the latter managed to modify the trajectory of Dimorphos, the small natural satellite orbiting around the asteroid Didymos. However, despite technological advances and anticipation exercises, a significant “blind spot” remains, as evidenced by the asteroid 2023 NT1, which was only detected 2 days following its passage near the Earth on July 13. . Now unobservable, C9FMVU2 is also somehow in this corner. The mission
NEOMIR of ESA, currently under development, aims to put an end to this constraint and thus improve our planetary defense system.
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