An asteroid the size of a delivery truck will whip past Earth on Thursday in what will be one of the closest encounters ever recorded, scientists say.
An asteroid the size of a delivery truck will whip past Earth on Thursday in what is expected to be one of the closest such encounters ever recorded.The agency said Wednesday that the newly discovered asteroid, known as 2023 BU, will zoom 2,200 miles above the southern tip of South America. That’s 10 times closer than the bevy of communication satellites circling overhead.
“But despite the very few observations, it was nonetheless able to predict that the asteroid would make an extraordinarily close approach with Earth,” Farnocchia said in a statement. “In fact, this is one of theDiscovered Saturday, the asteroid is believed to be between 11 feet and 28 feet across. It was first spotted by the same amateur astronomer in Crimea, Gennady Borisov, who discovered an interstellar comet in 2019.
The asteroid’s path will be drastically altered by Earth’s gravity once it zips by. Instead of circling the sun every 359 days, it will move into an oval orbit lasting 425 days, according to NASA.
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