Car-sized asteroid to fly between moons and Earth

Near-Earth asteroid 2023 BU, discovered for the first time last weekend, will make its closest approach to Earth on the night of 26

on January 27th. It will fly 3.5 thousand.km from the Earth's surface - this is four times closer than satellites located in geostationary orbit and 30 times closer than the Moon. The online broadcast of the approach will be carried out by the “Virtual Telescope”.

2023 BU is a small asteroid.Its diameter, according to estimates, is from 3.7 to 8.2 m, and the distance between the point of closest approach and the center of the Earth does not exceed 9.9 thousand km. During the passage of perigee, the speed of the asteroid relative to the Earth will be 9.33 km/s. The closest approach will occur on January 26 at about 21:17 UTC (January 27, 0:17 Moscow time).

Orbit simulation 2023 BU. Image: Steven M. Tilley, JPL Close-Approach Viewer

The researchers believe that the asteroid is notposes a threat to the earth. Firstly, the simulation of its trajectory suggests that the probability of a collision is extremely small - most likely it will fly past. And, secondly, objects of this size, as a rule, completely burn up in the atmosphere.

The approach of the asteroid can be seen in the broadcast, which will be held by the astronomers of the Virtual Telescope project. The broadcast will begin 2 hours before the closest approach at 22:15 Moscow time.

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