Asteroids pose a potential danger to the planet in case they impact the surface. To study asteroids that are not in the asteroid belt and reveal the unknown, NASA has the Lucy Space Mission in place. NASA launched its Lucy spacecraft on Oct. 16, 2021 from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. This is NASA’s first space mission to study the Trojans, a group of asteroids which orbit the Sun in two groups, according to NASA. It is built to seek out trojan asteroids millions of kilometers from Earth. NASA also uses its other telescopes like NEOWISE, Pan-STARRS, the Catalina Sky Survey and more to study asteroids.
With the help of these space and ground-based telescopes, NASA has revealed that an asteroid is dashing towards Earth today, and it is a big one.
Asteroid 2023 BY4 details
The Potentially Hazardous Asteroid, named as Asteroid 2023 BY4 is already on its way towards Earth travelling at a staggering speed of 38716 kilometers per hour and is expected to just miss the planet today, February 2. It will make its closest approach to Earth at a distance of just 4.9 million kilometers, according to NASA. NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office has warned that Asteroid 2023 BY4 is massive, as it is nearly 130 feet across, making it out to be as big as an aircraft.
Asteroid strike in Canada
In the midst of all the close asteroid flybys, NASA has revealed that an asteroid struck the Earth in November last year. This asteroid was seemingly missed by all the telescopes and was discovered just hours before impact!
NASA has revealed that a tiny asteroid lit up the sky as it flew over Southern Ontario, Canada on Saturday, November 19. What’s shocking is that this 3-foot asteroid was detected just 3.5 hours before impact! According to NASA, the asteroid is likely to have burned up upon entering the planet’s atmosphere and scattered small meteorites over the southern coastline of Lake Ontario.
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