![]() It is now slated to fly by our planet again in a few weeks as it's been locked in. The asteroid was discovered by the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey on October 6, 2013, as it approached Earth on the nighttime side. He said the asteroid had “absolutely no chance” of colliding with the international space station, which circles the Earth at an altitude of about 250 miles. The rock in question is asteroid 2013 TX68, which swooped by Earth at a safe 1.3 million miles away two years ago. If an asteroid the size of 2013 TX68 were to enter Earth’s atmosphere, it would likely produce an air burst with about twice the energy of the Chelyabinsk event. “TX68’s trajectory will take it on an arc through a huge region of space, and satellites are very small objects.An asteroid hitting a satellite would be like a blindfolded person throwing a pebble and hitting a single small needle in an enormous haystack.” He said it was extremely unlikely that it would hit a satellite. “What we know for sure is that it will not collide with Earth this month, so do not panic.” The asteroid orbits the sun every 780 days or so two years ago, 2013 TX68 flew by Earth at. The US astronomer Sean Marshall, from Cornell University in New York, who studies NEOs, such as comets and asteroids, said: “Should this asteroid come closer than the geostationary satellites, it would be a rare occurrence – that only happens about once per decade for large asteroids. 2013 TX68 was discovered in October 2013 by astronomers working with the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona. At the other limit of its predicted range, it could remain as far out as 40 times the distance to the moon. Experts believe it will make its closest approach to Earth on Sunday, although the forecast might be one or two days out.Ĭalculations show that 2013 TX68 could shoot past the Earth well within the ring of geostationary communications and GPS satellites stationed 22,300 miles above the equator. The asteroid 2013 TX68 will come fairly close to Earth in early March, but the exact time and distance of its closest approach will not be known until after the fact. The rock, which is 30 metres wide (100ft) and named 2013 TX68, was spotted three years ago by astronomers in the US scouring the skies for potentially threatening near-Earth objects (NEOs).īecause the asteroid was tracked for only 10 days, its orbital path is uncertain. Calculations show that 2013 TX68 could shoot past the Earth well within the ring of geostationary communications and GPS satellites stationed 22,300 miles above sea level.
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