(ORDO NEWS) — On Friday, November 13, five asteroids flew near Earth. They were small in size – no more than 20 meters in diameter. But their number surprised even specialists. The bad news in this situation is that astronomers missed one of the asteroids. It was only discovered the day after it flew very close to Earth. The asteroid flew by at an altitude of 380 kilometers above the Earth’s surface at a speed of about 14 kilometers per second.
The ISS flies at an altitude of 340-430 kilometers. Therefore, the asteroid could have knocked it down without any problems, but, fortunately, did not hit it. The ISS at the time of the passage of the space object was in a completely different place. Also, other satellites that are present in the Earth’s orbit missed the asteroid.
The diameter of the asteroid was 11 meters, but it could be slightly larger. If the object got into the atmosphere of our planet, then you could watch a very bright show in the sky. At the same time, everything would rumble around, and the surroundings would shake from the explosion. Other experts have compared this asteroid to the one that exploded over the island of Sulawesi in 2009 and released a huge amount of energy.
In order to be able to track objects 20-30 meters in size, according to experts, very powerful telescopes are needed. At the moment, scientists do not have such equipment, and it will take billions of dollars to create it. Also, there is no special global network with the help of which it would be possible to conduct observations from various points. That is why from time to time such unexpected visits of guests from outer space occur.
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