Update for January 28th: Astronomer Gianluca Masi was able to capture interesting footage of asteroid 2024 BJ as it passed Earth on January 27th. virtual telescope project or on the project YouTube channel.
The asteroid discovered earlier this month will make its closest approach to Earth on Saturday (January 27), flying closer to us than the moon.
Astronomers first detected the asteroid, called 2024 BJ, with a maximum width of 121 feet (37 meters) on January 17. documented They discovered it the day after they calculated that the rock could safely fly across the Earth without incident.
The asteroid will approach the moon just before 9 a.m. ET (14:00 GMT), and three and a half hours later it will zip by Earth at an estimated speed of 14,200 mph (22,850 km/h). According to , the flying space rock is scheduled to make its closest approach to Earth at 12:30 pm ET (5:30 pm GMT). NASA.
The airplane-sized asteroid can be seen by satellite as it travels just 220,000 miles (354,000 kilometers) from Earth, or more than nine-tenths of the average distance between Earth and the Moon. Virtual Telescope Project Live Stream Starting at 12:15pm ET (5:15pm GMT). Live, you can expect the asteroid to appear as a white speck that moves quickly among the stars in the background.
Related: How NASA accurately predicted a small asteroid would burn up over Germany hours before it happened
2024 BJ is an Apollo-type near-Earth asteroid. The egg-shaped orbit intersects the Earth’s orbit. After reaching the point closest to the Sun, it turns and spreads out toward the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
More than 1,600 Apollo asteroids are currently known, making up the majority of potentially hazardous asteroids that cross Earth. But don’t worry. Her BJ in 2024 is far from large enough to be considered dangerous. In fact, Earth appears safe from asteroids, at least cataclysmic “planet-destroying” asteroids larger than 1 km (0.6 miles) in diameter, for the next 1,000 years.
And if a currently unknown planet destroyer happens to sneak up on us, for example, from the direction of the bright sun, scientists already have some plans to cope with such an earth-threatening catastrophe. Masu. It could also be a rocket or a nuclear weapon detonated in space. Hopefully, we will never have to test missions like this.