NASA Says Incoming Asteroid Is, About to Have a Close Encounter With Earth.
According to NASA, an asteroid currently hurtling
toward Earth is expected to make one of the
closest passes humanity has ever experienced.
However, 'The Independent' reports that
the object is expected to pass by safely.
On the evening of January 26 or early on
January 27, the asteroid is expected
to make its closest approach.
It is believed to be
about 3.5 meters by 8.5 meters.
The asteroid was only spotted
days before it's scheduled to pass by Earth.
Amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov
discovered the asteroid on January 21.
Once the asteroid was detected, NASA examined
it with its Scout system, which is designed
to predict the potential threat of collisions.
Scout quickly ruled out 2023 BU
as an impactor, but despite the very
few observations, it was nonetheless
able to predict that the asteroid
would make an extraordinarily
close approach with Earth, Davide Farnocchia, navigation engineer
at JPL, via 'The Independent'.
In fact, this is one of the closest
approaches by a known
near-Earth object ever recorded, Davide Farnocchia, navigation engineer
at JPL, via 'The Independent'.
'The Independent' reports that the near
miss will cause the Earth's gravity to
significantly alter the orbit of the asteroid.