A truck-sized asteroid will graze Earth

This NASA diagram shows the trajectory of asteroid 2023 BU as it approaches Earth.

PA

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2023 BU will pass just 3,600 kilometers from Earth tonight.

It is one of the closest trajectories to our planet ever recorded, but without any danger, announced NASA.

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Asteroid 2023 BU, recently discovered by an amateur astronomer, will pass near the southern tip of South America around 0:27 GMT on Friday, NASA said in a statement.

It will pass just 3,600 kilometers from the Earth's surface, much closer than many geostationary satellites orbiting the planet.

But there is no risk that the asteroid will hit the Earth, underlines the American space agency.

Even if it did, the asteroid, which measures between 3.5 and 8.5 meters in diameter, would largely disintegrate in our atmosphere, potentially dropping only a few pieces of debris as small meteorites.

The object was spotted from an observatory in Crimea on Saturday by amateur astronomer Gennady Borissov, the discoverer of the interstellar comet Borissov in 2019. Dozens of observations were then made by observatories around the world, confirming the arrival of 2023 BU.

No risk of impact with the Earth

NASA's impact risk assessment system, Scout, quickly ruled out impact with Earth.

"

," said Davide Farnocchia, a navigation engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which developed Scout.

It is "

 [an asteroid or a comet whose orbit crosses that of the Earth, editor's note] 

", he adds.

The asteroid will come so close to the Blue Planet that Earth's gravity is expected to alter its orbit around the Sun.

Before its arrival, it took 359 days for the asteroid to go around our star.

It will now need 425, according to NASA.

(

AFP)

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