Asteroid 2023 TV3 belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids. (NASA JPL)

Asteroid 2023 TV3 to Pass Earth at a Distance Closer Than the Moon – Here’s What We Know

Adriana MaraisOctober 12, 23 asteroids, Earth, NASA

Despite the array of ground and space-based telescopes and observatories utilized by NASA, ESA, and other space agencies to track and monitor asteroids, one managed to evade detection. Named Asteroid 2023 NT1, this asteroid came closest to Earth on July 13, entering within a 60,000-mile radius, which is four times closer than the Moon. Surprisingly, it was not a small rock, measuring nearly 200 feet wide, four times the size of the destructive Chelyabinsk asteroid in Russia. Eventually, it was spotted by the Asteroid Terrestrials-Impacts Last Alert System (ATLAS) observatory in South Africa on July 15.

NASA has revealed that an asteroid will make its closest approach to Earth today, October 12th.

Asteroid 2023 TV3: Details of the close approach

NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) has named this space rock Asteroid 2023 TV3. It is expected to make its closest approach to Earth today, October 12. Asteroid approaches earth four times closer than the moon! It will pass Earth at a distance of 83,353 kilometers, making it one of the closest asteroid approaches of 2023.

It is hurtling toward Earth and traveling at a speed of about 51,196 kilometers per hour, which is much faster than the speed of a hypersonic ballistic missile!

According to NASA CNEOS, this is the first time this asteroid has been observed approaching Earth. However, as of today, no close approach is expected in the near future.

Other information

Asteroid 2023 TV3 belongs to Apollo’s group of Near-Earth Asteroids, which are space rocks that bisect the Earth, with semi-major axes larger than the Earth’s axis. These asteroids are named after the huge 1862 Apollo asteroid discovered by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth in the 1930s.

The asteroid ranges from 26 to 59 feet across, making it almost the size of a house. That’s the same size as the Chelyabinsk asteroid, which injured 1,400 people and damaged 7,000 buildings when it exploded over the Russian city in 2013.