UP

Space rock to pass closer than some satellites

Home page Technology
12 Punto 14 Punto 16 Punto 18 Punto

You definitely shouldn't panic but there is a biggish asteroid about to pass by Earth in the coming hours.

Axar.az reports that about the size of a minibus, the space rock, known as 2023 BU, will whip over the southern tip of South America just after midnight GMT.

With a closest expected approach of 3,600km (2,200 miles), it counts as a close shave.

And it illustrates how there are still asteroids of significant size lurking near Earth that remain to be detected.

This one was only picked up last weekend by amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov, who operates from Nauchnyi in Crimea, the peninsula that Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014.

Follow up observations have refined what we know about 2023 BU's size and, crucially, its orbit.

That's how astronomers can be so confident it will miss the planet, even though it will come inside the arc occupied by the world's telecommunications satellites, which sit 36,000km (22,000 miles) above us.

The chances of hitting a satellite are very, very small.

The time of lowest altitude is calculated to be 19.27 EST on Thursday; 00:27 GMT on Friday.

Date
2023.01.27 / 09:52
Author
Axar.az
See also

Saudi Crown Prince launches ‘HUMAIN’ AI company

TikTok plans a Finland data center

Skype shuts down May 5

China launches world's first 10G broadband network

Uzbekistan blocks Rutub

China to rely on artificial intelligence in education

Zuckerberg defends Meta in social media monopoly trial

Starlink launches in Azerbaijan

X network experiences issues

The US develop an orbital carrier for space forces

Latest
Xocalı soyqırımı — 1992-ci il Bağla
Bize yazin Bağla
ArxivBağla