Perth: There are millions of asteroids in our solar system, which means that new asteroids are discovered quite often. It also means that collisions between Earth and asteroids are common. Sometimes this face-to-face confrontation affects the earth and sometimes its consequences are serious. The recently discovered asteroid, named 2023 BU, is in limelight as it passed very close to the Earth. On January 21 this year, the asteroid was discovered by Crimean amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov, and seven days after the discovery, on January 27, its distance from Earth (from the southernmost point of South America) was only 3,600 km.
one percent of the distance of the moonThis distance is slightly more than the distance between the cities of Perth and Sydney and is just one percent of the distance between the Earth and the Moon. This asteroid passed through the region of space where there are also man-made satellites that revolve around the Earth. With this, 2023 BU is the fourth known asteroid to have passed so close to Earth. How to evaluate 2023 BU as an asteroid and a threat? 2023BU is not significant other than passing close to the Earth. Its diameter is only four to eight meters, which comes in the category of small-sized asteroids. It is like millions of objects present in our solar system and it is possible that 2023BU has come close to Earth many times before in the last millennium. Till now we are unaware of this fact.
no need to fear them
If we refer to the fact that on an average, an asteroid of four meters in diameter collides with the Earth every year and an asteroid of eight meters in diameter collides with the Earth every five years, then asteroids of this size fragment into meteorites and some reach the Earth in the form of meteorites. Now 2023 BU has been discovered and its orbit around the Sun has been predicted and future approaches to Earth can already be predicted. It is estimated that between the years 2077 to 2123, it is likely to affect the earth once in 10,000. So we need not be afraid of 2023 BU or millions of such objects in the Solar System.
An asteroid impact greater than 25 meters in diameter would have to occur to significantly affect life on Earth and at least one kilometer in diameter to challenge existing civilization. According to an estimate, the number of such asteroids in our solar system is a little more than a thousand and they can affect the Earth once every five million years. We know of more than 95 percent of these asteroids.
Could asteroids pass closer? 2023 BU is the fourth asteroid ever recorded so close to Earth. Earlier, three small asteroids passed very close to the Earth in the years 2020 and 2021 (2021UA, 2020 QG and 2020VT) which were discovered.
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this happens often
Asteroid 2023 BU and numerous other asteroids have passed close to Earth during our solar system’s five billion years of existence and will continue to do so in the future. What has changed in recent years is that we can identify asteroids of these sizes and assess the hazards they pose. An asteroid roughly five meters in diameter was discovered thousands of kilometers away by an amateur astronomer, showing that the technology needed in astronomical exploration has reached the masses. This is very encouraging.
changed direction
Amateur researchers and professionals can work together to continuously search and categorize threats to analyze them. Another exciting development came to light last year when the Double Asteroid Redirection (DART) mission successfully deflected a spacecraft from an asteroid collision. DART reinforces the idea of deflecting an asteroid when it is in serious danger of hitting Earth.