US, WASHINGTON (ORDO NEWS) — With all the large asteroids that have appeared recently in the news, it would be easy for a small one to slip unnoticed. On April 27, astronomers discovered a new asteroid, a small cosmic rock measuring 4 to 8 meters across.
He was already close to Earth, and the probability of collision was calculated at about 10 percent. In terms of size, it would burn if it entered the atmosphere, so in any case it did not pose a threat to people.
But the trajectory of the asteroid ran very close to the geostationary ring, the space around the Earth in which bodies can maintain a geostationary orbit. This space is filled with satellites.
On April 28, this asteroid – later called 2020 HS7 – flew past Earth at a distance of about nine times closer than the average distance to the moon.
At a distance of 42,735 kilometers from the center of the Earth – the Earth – Moon distance is an average of 384,400 kilometers – 2020 HS7 completed one of the closest asteroid spans we have ever seen.
“Small asteroids, such as the 2020 HS7, fly safely past Earth several times a month,” said astronomer Lindley Johnson of NASA‘s Planetary Defense Coordination Bureau shortly before the flight. “They are not a threat to our planet.”
In fact, the 2020 HS7 allowed scientists to test their ability to detect, observe, and predict on a small near-Earth asteroid. And they showed that they are able to predict and track the 2020 HS7 with incredible accuracy, even with just a day’s notice.
You may have heard a lot about near-Earth asteroids. Only in the last few months, large asteroids flew nearby, such as 2020 BX12 and 1998 OR2 (which had a close flight a day after 2020 HS7).
Astronomers have also just seen comet 2I / Borisov , an interstellar guest, falling apart. But although it may seem that there are more cosmic stones in our neighborhood than ever, in reality, we simply very well detect and track them.
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