NASA Unveils Bus-Sized Asteroid Heading Towards Earth – Get the Facts on Speed, Size, and More

NASA has a range of telescopes, both in space and on the ground, that are dedicated to finding, monitoring, and researching asteroids. However, if you have an interest in astronomy, you can also contribute to NASA’s efforts. The newly launched Daily Minor Planet Project allows aspiring astronomers and skywatchers to assist in the discovery and tracking of new asteroids by analyzing data sets. To accomplish this, the project utilizes the Catalina Sky Survey, which is supported by NASA and based at the University of Arizona. This survey captures nearly 1000 images each night, resulting in a large volume of data that NASA scientists are unable to fully analyze on their own. By participating in the project, individuals can review these images and simply click “yes” or “no” to indicate the presence of an asteroid, along with the option to provide additional comments if necessary.

Here’s how you can help NASA keep an eye on these ancient space rocks!

In a new development, NASA has revealed details of an asteroid that is set to come close to Earth today.

Asteroid 2023 TG

NASA has found as many as 1,298,148 telescopes and observatories so far, and one of them will come close to Earth today. Named Asteroid 2023 TG by NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), this space rock will make its closest approach to Earth today, October 6.

On its approach, it will come as close as 691,000 kilometers from the planet’s surface. NASA has revealed that it is hurtling towards Earth at a whopping 26006 kilometers per hour, which is much faster than a hypersonic ballistic missile!

According to NASA, this asteroid is not large enough to be classified as a potentially hazardous object. A celestial body must be about 492 feet wide and pass Earth at a distance of less than 7.5 million kilometers to be considered a potentially dangerous object. Asteroid 2023 TG, on the other hand, is only 26 feet wide, making it the size of a bus.

It belongs to the Apollo group of Near-Earth Asteroids, which are space rocks that pass through the Earth and whose semi-major axes are 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.