That was close: an asteroid the size of a truck swept past the earth at a distance of a few thousand kilometers – closer than almost any other celestial body before.
An asteroid passed Earth as close as no other celestial body had before on Friday morning. The truck-sized asteroid 2023 BU was closest to Earth at 01:29 (CET) at the southernmost point of South America, observing scientists said. The distance was around 3,600 kilometers at that moment. This brought the asteroid closer to Earth than many of the satellites orbiting it.
Amateur Astronomer Discovered “2023 BU”
“2023 BU” was discovered by amateur astronomer Gennady Borissov on Saturday in an observatory on the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia. He had already discovered an interstellar comet in the night sky in 2019.
After the existence of “2023 BU” became known, the astronomy world was briefly excited. Since then, dozens of observatories around the world have taken a closer look at the asteroid. However, fears of an impact on Earth were quickly invalidated by calculations by the US space agency Nasa and other scientists.
But although “2023 BU” ultimately flew past the earth without a trace, the encounter with our planet will change it – or its orbit around the sun. According to NASA, it will then take 425 days instead of the previous 359 days to orbit the sun.
This article is originally published on zdf.de
