A small asteroid 2023 BU, which measured less than 8 meters in diameter, flew past Earth on January 27, at about 00:30 GMT. Although it was unlikely that this celestial body would be in direct danger in a direct collision with our planet, a brief time-lapse video may have helped.
Gianluca Masi organized a robotic observatory in the vicinity of Rome. It is important to know how close an asteroid may be to the Earth's surface and how far away it is from the telescope.
2023 BU was unable to be seen at its closest approach to Earth due to cloud cover. However, we would not be able to examine it in depth since this celestial body measures between 3.5 and 8.5 meters.
The asteroid 2023 BU passed at a distance of 3600 kilometers from the Earth's surface. However, even in the event of its entry into the atmosphere, it would burn up in it almost entirely, with the exception of small fragments that might turn into meteorites.
The asteroid 2023 BU appears in the presented video and photographs as a bright small dot, while the bright lines surrounding it are stars. The asteroid is still visible in the video, while the stars are blurred.
Aristidy Borisov, an astronomer from the Crimea, discovered the asteroid by accident.
The suddenness of such a discovery makes us fear an unknown danger from outer space that we will not be able to defy. However, almost all near-solar asteroids that are serious for the Earth are known, and there have been no new discoveries for a long time. The arrival of a dangerous asteroid from the deeps of the system is regarded as unlikely.
Surprises are unavoidable, and the most likely of them might originate from the other side of the Sun, which does not allow normal observation in this direction. This is another story.
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