A larger asteroid is expected to fly close to Earth on Saturday night. It should scrape close enough to our planet to be seen with binoculars or a telescope.
According to the European Space Agency ESA, the celestial body will be only about 168,000 kilometers from our planet at its closest point, roaring over the Indian Ocean. In comparison, the moon is more than twice as far from the earth.
Rare event
Asteroids fly past the Earth from time to time. But the Saturday night event is quite rare. Because the recently discovered celestial body called 2023 DZ2 is about 40 to 100 meters in size and travels at a speed of about 28,000 kilometers per hour. According to the American space agency NASA, it only happens once every ten years that such a large asteroid comes close to Earth. There is no danger from the flyby.
Live broadcast on the internet
For anyone interested, the Virtual Telescope Project will broadcast a live webcast of the approach. Richard Moissl, head of planetary defense at the European Space Agency, said: “It is impossible that this ‘city killer’ will hit Earth, but its proximity offers a great opportunity for observation.”
Planet defense is practiced
For employees of the International Asteroid Warning Network, the flyby is also a good exercise for planetary defense. Because even if we don’t make it to DZ2 in 2023, we always have to train for emergencies. By the way, the asteroid will return to Earth in three years. However, after an initial short shock, researchers have now been able to rule out that the celestial body will hit us on the next “attempt”.
Source: Krone
I am an experienced and passionate journalist with a strong track record in news website reporting. I specialize in technology coverage, breaking stories on the latest developments and trends from around the world. Working for Today Times Live has given me the opportunity to write thought-provoking pieces that have caught the attention of many readers.
