Apollo Group Asteroid to Make Close Flyby of Earth Today – Learn About Its Speed, Size, and More

NASA launched the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) on September 8, 2016, with the aim of studying an asteroid named Bennu, which poses a 1/2700 risk of colliding with Earth between 2175 and 2195. The spacecraft successfully landed on the asteroid, gathering rock and dust samples, which were recently brought back to Earth. However, NASA is facing difficulties in removing two out of the 35 fasteners on the capsule, preventing access to the samples inside.

In a new development, NASA has illuminated an asteroid that is set to make a close pass by Earth today.

Asteroid 2023 UF6: Speed, Size, Distance and More

According to details revealed by NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), this asteroid, named Asteroid 2023 UF6, is expected to fly past Earth today, October 25. Its orbit takes it as close as 3 million kilometers to the planet. Although this distance may seem large, it is astronomically smaller. It is estimated to travel at a speed of 55,243 kilometers per hour.

According to NASA, the asteroid approaching the Earth is not large enough to be classified as a potentially dangerous object. Asteroid 2023 UF6 is estimated to be between 59 and 131 feet across, which is not large enough to be classified as a potentially hazardous object. It is almost the size of an airplane.

It belongs to Apollo’s group of Near-Earth Asteroids, which are Earth-passing space rocks with semi-major axes larger than Earth’s. These asteroids are named after the huge 1862 Apollo asteroid discovered by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth in the 1930s.

This is the first close approach in the history of Asteroid 2023 UF6. According to NASA CNEOS, it will next pass the Earth on April 22, 2028 at a distance of almost 70 million kilometers.

Asteroid Naming Process

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 UF6”. 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.