It says the small rock, called 2024 BJ, will fly by Earth and the Moon on Saturday afternoon IFLScience. It was discovered only last week, January 17, and is expected to approach our planet on Saturday, January 27.
According to estimates, it is a near-Earth object with a diameter of 25 meters. While it will be cosmically close to us, it will actually fly 353,000 kilometers away. This represents 92% of the average distance between Earth and the Moon.
The object approaches the Moon for the first time around 3:00 PM (although it passes further than our planet),
After about three and a half hours, around 7:30 p.m., it reaches its closest point to Earth.
the Virtual telescope project He's holding a live video stream, so if you want, you can watch the clip (you can even follow him below):
2024 BJ is one of 158 new asteroids discovered since the beginning of the year, and one of 119 Apollo-type asteroids. They are objects that cross the Earth's orbit at the closest point to the Sun, but their orbits extend much further. 2024 BJ will actually be a little closer to the Sun than our planet, but it will then extend far beyond the orbit of Mars.
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