The closest approach of an asteroid to Earth occurs on Saturday

An asteroid called 2023DZ2, discovered by NASA in February of this year, will approach Earth like never before. According to the information, the distance will reach 173,000 km next Saturday, the twenty-fifth, and the asteroid will be closer to Earth than the moon, which is 384,400 km away from the planet.

It is an Apollo-family constellation, 64 meters in diameter, and considered slow in discovery calculations.

The newly discovered asteroid 2023DZ2, which has a diameter of about 70 meters, will approach Earth on March 25, 2023 at 4:52 pm Brasilia time, passing about 173,000 kilometers from our planet, which is 0.45 times the distance between Earth and Earth. the moon. pic.twitter.com/q8lxZgRu1X

– Sakani (Space Today) (@SpaceToday1) March 19, 2023

The closest approach to a celestial body can be seen by professionals with telescopes of at least six inches. It is estimated that the approach can be seen at 16:50 next Saturday, according to calculations, but it is important to pay attention to the telescope and the sky to observe the event.

Asteroid 2023DZ2 reaches a speed of 28 thousand kilometers per hour, which is considered high for an asteroid of its size. However, experts claim that its speed is relatively low compared to other asteroids they have observed.

In February, a team of astronomers from the La Palma Observatory in Spain discovered the near-Earth asteroid. According to information from the Earth Sky platform, that part of the celestial body revolves around the sun every 3.17 years.

If you notice any distinct movement crossing the skies over Brazil, know that it was the closest asteroid that passed through the planet, similar to a “slow-moving” star, mentioned in the discovery report.

An asteroid could hit Earth in 2026

Astronomers believe that 1 in 430 asteroids could hit Earth by March 2026. This was a new celestial body discovered, and the case is still recent, but there are estimates that other discoveries are capable of hitting the planet.

These surveys are relevant to scientists even as it is difficult to observe movements in space. It is believed that by March 2026 the celestial body will reach the atmosphere and more and more certainties will begin to emerge.