An asteroid will pass close to Earth on Saturday, so close that ordinary telescopes could detect it in the night sky, CBS News reported.
According to experts, the space rock 2023 DZ2, named after NASA, is expected to fly between Earth and the Moon at speeds greater than 28,000 kilometers per hour.
The asteroid will pass by on Friday and Saturday on a trajectory scientists say is a little less than half the average distance of the Moon from Earth, 174,650 kilometers. It measures between 42.6 and 94.4 meters in diameter, similar in size to an Olympic swimming pool, which is approximately 50 meters long.
Astronomers at the La Palma observatory in the Canary Islands, Spain, discovered 2023 DZ2 in late February of this year and have studied it ever since to observe its orbit, size, and anticipated trajectory.
It will be closest to Earth on Saturday around 19:51 UTC (1:51 hours in Mexico). People in the northern hemisphere will probably have the best chance of seeing it. Experts believe that it can be observed through small telescopes on Friday night.
NASA wrote on Twitter this week that it is not expected to collide with Earth. However, he maintained that the approach will allow astronomers to learn more about asteroids, helping them prepare for any “potential asteroid threat” in the future.
“While close approaches occur regularly, one of an asteroid of this size happens once a decade, providing a unique opportunity for science,” said a Tuesday tweet on NASA’s Asteroid Watch account.
“International Asteroid Warning Network astronomers use this close-up approach to learn as much as possible about 2023 DZ2 in a short period – good practice for #PlanetaryDefense in the future if a potential asteroid threat is ever discovered,” the agency wrote in a second tweet.
According to EarthSky, scientists believed for a time that the new asteroid posed a possible risk of colliding with Earth during a future orbit and suggested that 2023 DZ2 could impact the planet on March 27, 2026. However, as of Tuesday This week, officials removed the asteroid from the Sentry Risk Table, an observation system developed at the turn of the century to maintain a continuous catalog of space objects that are at some risk of colliding with Earth for at least the next 100 years.
Another asteroid, also discovered in February, 2023 DW, potentially carries a higher risk of colliding with Earth in the relatively foreseeable future. According to the European Space Agency, it has a one in 607 chance of hitting the planet.
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