NASA Unveils Details of Today’s Asteroid Flyby

In order to closely examine asteroids, NASA and various space agencies have initiated multiple space missions. These missions aim to investigate asteroids, reduce uncertainties regarding their potential hazards, and assess the feasibility of extracting resources from them in the future. One such mission, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), involved intentionally redirecting an asteroid’s trajectory by colliding a spacecraft with it, which was successfully accomplished last year. Additional missions like Dawn, OSIRIS-REx, and Hayabusa2 have also been undertaken for this purpose.

Although not expected to hit Earth, NASA has issued a warning about an asteroid that will collide with nearby Earth today.

Asteroid 2023 SE4

The asteroid, named Asteroid 2023 SE4, is heading towards Earth and may make its closest approach to the planet today, September 29. NASA revealed these shocking details after tracking the asteroid’s orbit using its various satellites as well as space and ground. based telescopes. According to details, asteroid 2023 SE4 is expected to make its closest approach to the planet at a distance of 2 million kilometers and a speed of 16,662 kilometers per hour, according to NASA.

It belongs to the group of Aten asteroids, which are Earth-crossing Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) with semi-major axes smaller than Earth’s. They are named after the asteroid 2062 Ate, and the first of their kind was discovered by American astronomer Eleanor Helin at the Palomar Observatory on January 7, 1976.

How big is it?

According to NASA, the near-Earth asteroid is not expected to collide and is not large enough to be classified as a potentially hazardous object. It’s only 45 feet wide, making it the size of a house. This is not the first close approach of Asteroid 2023 SE4. It first passed Earth at a distance of 4.1 million kilometers on October 1, 1965. After today, it will pass Earth on September 27, 2061.

What are asteroids called?

According to the European Space Agency (ESA), the process of temporarily naming an asteroid begins when one observer spots it on two consecutive nights and then sends their findings to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Minor Planet Center. The IAU assigns a temporary designation, typically consisting of a serial number, such as “2023 KT1”. The provisional designation includes the year the asteroid was discovered, followed by two letters indicating the order in which it was discovered in that year.

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