An asteroid traveling at 53,000 km/h will crash into Earth’s atmosphere this week

It was discovered on Saturday January 21st and is causing quite a stir in the astronomy world: asteroid 2023 BU is heading towards Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of 53,000 kilometers per hour.

It is estimated that it will travel at about 10,500 km/h beyond the center of the Earth, that is a small distance in astronomical termsreports the Daily Star. That is, the asteroid will be only three percent of the mean distance between Earth and the Moon, making it an incredibly close distance, astronomers say.

Against this calculation, the massive space rock will be the fourth-closest to Earth’s surface, among Earth’s 35,000 past and future meteors and asteroids, according to data compiled by NASA’s Center for Near Object Studies (CNEOS) during the 300 years since. 1900 to 2200.

The good news is that, according to CNEOS data, the space rock measures only between 38 meters long and 85 meters wide, meaning it would be little threat even if it made its way to Earth.

For NASA, space rocks smaller than 25 meters in diameter have a high probability of burning up when they enter Earth’s atmosphere, causing little or no damage to the ground.

But beyond the proximity of the asteroid in its entrance to the Earth, what is excluded for the scientists is that a collision will occur.

On appointment Mirrorthe asteroid will enter our atmosphere, precisely in the exosphere, the outermost layer which extends for about 10,500 kilometres.

According to the Italian agency ANSA, it is indicated that it does not pose any danger, as it is very small. Indeed, it was discovered a few days ago by the engineer and amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov, who found it on January 21 from the Margo de Nauchnij observatory (Crimea).

It will be within the orbit of geostationary satellites flying over South America and will be seen at close quarters on Thursday, January 26, around 10:17 pm Spanish time (there is a two-hour margin of error).

It will fly over the planet at less than the distance that separates us from the Moon, in fact it is the fourth closest ever recorded, and can be seen live on the Internet at virtualtelescope.eu/webtv (you will need to connect to the url on Thursday from 16:15 now Argentina), reveals the site wwwhatsnews.

This site will broadcast the passage of the asteroid from the Ceccano observatory, in the province of Frosinone, so it will be a good opportunity to see a celestial body that has been on the lips of all enthusiasts for a few days.

In 2018, NASA predicted that a massive asteroid twice the size of Big Ben could crash into Earth within five years, but luckily that hasn’t happened yet, though estimates say the asteroid, dubbed 2018LF16could impact our planet on August 8, 2023.

But the chances of that happening are extremely low, as NASA expects a 99.9999967% chance of failure.

Asteroid 2018 LF16 is about 213 meters wide, about twice the size of the clock tower of Big Ben in London, or the same size as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.