As the solar system formed nearly 4.6 billion years ago, some rocks, which couldn’t form into planets, were left behind. These space rocks are known as Asteroids. Asteroids have several shapes, they may be spherical, elongated, or oddly shaped. The asteroids that travel around the Sun in their elliptical paths also rotate, sometimes in a disorderly manner, according to NASA. Although asteroids make close approaches to Earth nearly every day, they do so safely or most of them burn up in the planet’s atmosphere itself. Now, another asteroid could be on its way towards Earth.
NASA has issued an alert against an asteroid that is expected to make a close approach to Earth today.
Asteroid 2023 FU3 details
NASA has issued a warning about a particular asteroid called Asteroid 2023 FU3, as it will be approaching very close to Earth. The asteroid is currently traveling at a speed of almost 27062 kilometers per hour and is set to make its closest approach to Earth today, March 28, at a distance of 4.6 million kilometers per hour.
As per NASA, Asteroid 2023 FU3 is nearly as big as a house, with a width of 58 feet. It belongs to the Amor group, which are Earth-approaching near-Earth asteroids with orbits exterior to Earth’s but interior to Mars’, named after asteroid 1221 Amor.
Scientists study asteroids to learn more about the early solar system and the conditions that existed when the planets were forming. Asteroids can also provide valuable resources such as water, metals, and other minerals.
NASA’s asteroid tracking tech
NASA tracks asteroids using a combination of ground-based and space-based telescopes. The NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), scans the night sky for moving objects and reports any potential asteroid detections, while some space-based observatories use infrared sensors to detect asteroids and their characteristics. Some of these include the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and the NEOWISE mission.