NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) claimed to have detected a small asteroid that has a very low probability of hit the earth in 2046. According to what is stated in Twitter by Asteroid Watch, belonging to the special agency, he was identified as 2023 DW.
“We have been tracking a new asteroid called 2023 DW that has a very small chance of hitting Earth in 2046. Often when new objects are first discovered, weeks of data are needed to reduce uncertainties and predict their orbits in the future,” NASA explained.
As reported by the site Eyes on Asteroids (Eyes on Asteroids), also managed by the US government agency, the asteroid measures about 49.29 meters in diameter, the size similar to that of an Olympic-type swimming pool.
Regarding its trajectory, experts determined that it takes 271 days to complete a solar orbit, and its closest distance to the Sun will be 0.49 Astronomical Units, that is, approximately 75 million kilometers. The bigger question is, however, when it might collide.
The exact date of impact, NASA specified, it would be February 14, 2046the same day that Valentine’s Day is celebrated.
An asteroid the size of a truck also passed close to Earth at the end of January, in what was one of the closest approaches ever recordedreported the US space agency, which emphasized that, even so, it did not represent any danger.
It was discovered from an observatory in Crimea by amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov, who previously spotted an interstellar comet in 2019. Dozens of sightings have since been made at observatories around the world.
The asteroid 2023 BU passed through the southern tip of South America around 9:27 p.m. (Argentine time). only 3600 kilometers from Earth, much closer than other geostationary satellites orbiting the planet we inhabit.
As in the most recent case, there was no risk of collision. And even if there had been, the asteroid, which measures between 3.5 and 8.5 meters wide, would disintegrate largely in Earth’s atmosphere, which could result in only a few small meteorites.
“Despite very few observations, he was able to predict that the asteroid would come extraordinarily close to Earth,” said Davide Farnocchia, who helped develop the Scout system. “In fact, this is one of the known approaches nearest of an object to Earth that has never been recorded”, he celebrated.
THE NATION