Don’t worry, it’s harmless, but the occurrence is rare enough to report. An asteroid of several tens of meters, will pass between the Earth and the Moon this Saturday, March 25.
He does not wear his nickname randomly. “City killer”, aka “2023 DZ2”, the asteroid which will graze Earth this Saturday, March 25, is large enough to destroy an entire city in the event of a collision. But rest assured, scientists have studied the trajectory of this space object, which should therefore pass between 170,000 and 190,000 kilometers from our planet, according to different estimates.
Scientific opportunity
In addition to its very close distance, it is the size of this asteroid that makes this event a unique moment. “Although close approaches are frequent, an approach by an asteroid of this size (between 40 and 90 meters) only happens about once a decadeoffering a unique opportunity for science,” NASA tweeted.
A newly discovered #asteroid named 2023 DZ2 will safely pass by Earth on Saturday at 100K+ miles away. ud83cudf0e
While close approaches are a regular occurrence, one by an asteroid of this size (140-310 ft) happens only about once per decade, providing a unique opportunity for science.
— NASA Asteroid Watch (@AsteroidWatch) March 21, 2023
And this unique opportunity, scientists intend to seize it since its passage will allow them to study the celestial object as closely as possible. Richard Moissl, head of ESA’s planetary defense office, explains in particular to France Info that this also constitutes training in the face of the “threat” of an approaching asteroid.
NASA confirms on Twitter; “astronomers from the International Asteroid Warning Network are using this close approach to learn as much as possible about 2023 DZ2 in a short time – good practice for lhas planetary defense in the future if a potential asteroid threat was discovered”.
ud83dudd2dAstronomers with the International Asteroid Warning Network are using this close approach to learn as much as possible about 2023 DZ2 in a short time period – good practice for #PlanetaryDefense in the future if a potential asteroid threat were ever discovered.
— NASA Asteroid Watch (@AsteroidWatch) March 21, 2023
Watch it in real time
For science and space enthusiasts, it is possible to follow the trajectory of 2023 DZ2 in real time, thanks to the tool developed by NASA, called Eyes on Asteroid.
As for its speed, it should be noted that “City Killer” moves at 28,000 km/h. It will pass closest to us, between the Moon and Earth, at 8:49 p.m.