An asteroid the size of a "truck" passed by Earth

“BU 2023” approached a distance of 3,600 km from the Earth’s surface.

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Yesterday, an asteroid the size of a truck passed near Earth without causing any damage, according to what the US space agency (NASA) announced.

There was no need to launch a space mission aimed at detonating the asteroid or diverting its path through missiles, as appears in Hollywood films, as the BU-2023 asteroid passed by the Earth without recording any incident before continuing its path.

BU 2023 approached 3,600 km from the Earth's surface, much closer than several satellites orbiting the Earth.

The asteroid was spotted by an observatory in Crimea by amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov, who had previously spotted an interstellar comet in 2019.

Then dozens more observations were made from observatories around the world, and NASA's impact risk assessment system quickly concluded that the asteroid would not hit Earth.

"In fact, this is one of the closest times that an object has ever come close to Earth," said NASA researcher David Farnocchia.

Even if there had been a collision with the Earth, the asteroid, with a diameter of 3.5 meters to 8.5 meters, would have largely disintegrated in the Earth's atmosphere, which would have resulted in a few small meteorites.

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