While the interest in space has increased in recent years, humanity is also developing defense systems to protect our planet against meteorites with systems such as DART. Of course, the meteors coming from dark and cold space do not stop.
The asteroid named 2023 BU, which is the size of a small pickup truck, will pass dangerously close to our Earth in an unexpected way. But you don’t have to worry.
The closest contact to the Earth will be 2023 BU.
With a width of 3.6 meters and a length of 8.5 meters, this meteorite has dimensions close to the Mitsubishi FE 515, also known as the “market van” in our country. But strangely enough, this meteorite will pass 3,600 km from our planet’s atmosphere. This distance is closer than many satellites currently orbiting the Earth. If we need to scale the distance for better understanding, the distance of the meteorite to us is only 106th of the distance from the Moon to the Earth.
Calculating the orbit of the meteorite, NASA announced in its statement that 2023 BU will pass tangentially to our planet, albeit very closely, but in case of a possible mishap, even if the meteorite enters the atmosphere, it will be destroyed by burning. So this tiny meteorite is not a problem for the citizens of Earth.
But 2023 BU will go down in history as the closest space object to Earth to date. Although the meteorite will pass through the skies of South America, it will be very difficult to see with the naked eye due to its size.
This tiny meteor will pass tangent to our Earth on Thursday evening, January 26. Unfortunately, we will not be able to observe this meteorite from our country.
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