A galactic astronomer who spotted a small asteroid just hours before it hit Earth earlier this month almost had a second windfall when he spotted another space rock coming on a collision course with the planet. But this time, the body missed the ground by a few thousand miles.
Kristian Sarnitsky, an astronomer at the Konkoli Observatory near Budapest in Hungary, discovered asteroid6.6 to 14 feet (2 to 4 meters) tall, according to EarthSkyThursday night (March 25), when she quickly approached her a country† Since then, dubbed 2022 FD1, the asteroid passed through the planet’s shadow over the Pacific Ocean a few hours later on Friday (March 26) at 3:10 a.m. EDT (0810 GMT).
About an hour later, the rock approached its closest point to the planet, about 8,500 kilometers away. In comparison: the United States GPS Navigation satellites orbit at an altitude of 12,500 miles (20,200 km). The International Space Station It revolves around much less, about 250 miles (400 km) away.
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Sarniczky said on Twitter that the proximity to Earth changed the orbit of the asteroid.
“Major change in tilt of my new close approach #2022FD1 (aka #Sar2594) while flying: i = 9.4 deg -> 4.5 deg”, astronomer twitter On Friday (March 25).
Sárneczky made headlines earlier this month when he discovered a file Asteroid 2022 EB5 Just a few hours before those space rocks burned up in Earth’s atmosphere somewhere between Iceland and Norway. This asteroid, about 3 meters wide, was the fifth ever discovered before hitting Earth. According to NASA.
The other four asteroids observed before the collision are 2014 AA, 2018 LA, 2008 TV2, and 2019 MO, according to Earthsky.org.
This discovery highlights the potential dangers of asteroid impacts on our planet. Statistically, most terrestrial encounters with space rocks are small enough to burn up in the planet’s atmosphere, resulting only in spectacular fireball shows. But sometimes even very large rocks make it undetected on the surface of the planet. In 2013, an asteroid the size of a six-story building exploded over a Russian city Chelyabinskcreating a large shaking wave that injured 1,200 people.
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