A space rock the size of a minibus known as 2023 BU crashed into the southern tip of South America just before midnight.
30:00 PM GMT.
At its closest approach of 3,600 km (2,200 miles), it is considered close.
And it shows that there are still large asteroids near the Earth that have not yet been discovered.
This was taken last weekend by amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov, who works in Nauchnyi, Crimea, a peninsula Russia conquered from Ukraine in 2014.
Follow-up observations have refined our knowledge of the size of 2023 BU and, crucially, its orbit.
This convinced astronomers that they could miss the planet, even though it lies within the arc occupied by the world’s communications satellites, which are located 36,000 km (22,000 miles) above the Earth.
The chances of hitting a satellite are very low.
The minimum altitude time was calculated to be exactly 19.
Thursday at 27 EST or 00:
27 GMT on Friday.
Even if the 2023 BU was on a direct collision course, it would have struggled to do much damage.
With an estimated size of 3.5 m to 8.5 m (11.5 ft to 28 ft) in diameter, the rock likely collapsed high in the atmosphere. But it would have produced a nice fireball.
For comparison, the famous Chelyabinsk meteor that entered Earth’s atmosphere in 2013 in southern Russia was an object nearly 20 meters (66 feet) in diameter. A shock wave was generated, shattering the floor windows. NASA scientists say 2023 BU’s orbit around the Sun was altered by a collision with Earth.
Our planet’s gravity pulled on it, adjusting its path through space.
“Before impacting Earth, the asteroid’s orbit around the Sun was nearly circular, approaching Earth’s orbit, and it took 359 days to complete its orbit around the Sun,” the agency said in a statement.
“After the impact, the asteroid’s orbit will be longer, placing it roughly halfway between the orbits of Earth and Mars at its furthest point from the Sun. After that, the asteroid will orbit her once every 425 days.”
A great deal of effort is being made to find much larger asteroids that could do real damage if they hit Earth.
The 12km-wide rock-like real monster that wiped out the dinosaurs has probably all been found, so don’t worry. However, if the size is reduced to about 150m in width, there will be gaps in the inventory.
According to statistics, perhaps only about 40% of these asteroids have been confirmed and are being evaluated to determine the magnitude of the threat they may pose.
When such an object hits the ground, it will cause city-wide devastation.
Professor Don Polacco of the University of Warwick, UK, told BBC News:
“There are still asteroids crossing Earth’s orbit waiting to be discovered. “2023 BU is a recently discovered object, about the size of a small bus, that must have passed Earth thousands of times before. ), at near-misses of celestial bodies.
“Some components of 2023 BU may never reach the Earth’s surface and burn up in the atmosphere as a fireball brighter than the full moon.
“However, there could still be many asteroids that could enter the atmosphere undetected and hit the surface, causing significant damage. In fact, many scientists believe that such an event could cause I think it is possible.”
