A small asteroid the size of a refrigerator sailed past Earth last week. Astronomers were unaware that the object existed until several hours later.
It was close (from a cosmic perspective); on October 24, the space rock passed Antarctica within 1,800 (3,000 km) of Earth, making it the third closest asteroid to the planet.
Because the object was approaching Earth's daytime side in the direction of Sun, scientists were unaware of it. According to CNET, the visitor, which was comparatively small and dim, went unnoticed until four hours after it passed by its closest point.
The #asteroid 2021, a newly discovered #asteroid, missed Antarctica by just 3000km Sunday evening.
It came from the daytime sky, so it was undiscoverable prior to closest approach.https://t.co/Y0zY7mAYue pic.twitter.com/R9VpMo2X9G Tony Dunn (@tony873004) October 27, 2021
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UA1's diameter was only 6.6 feet (2 metres), so it wasn't dangerous. CNET reported that even if it had hit Earth, the majority of its rocky bodies would have burned away in space before reaching the ground.
Near-Earth objects (NEOs) are comets and asteroids which orbit in our cosmic neighborhood and approach Earth within 1.3 astronomical unit (120.9 million miles or 194.5 millions kilometers). This is according to NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies.
NASA uses telescopes in space and on the ground to monitor NEOs, to track their orbits, identify their size, shape, and composition, and to locate potentially dangerous objects. This is done through NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office.
NASA states that objects must be at least 460 feet in diameter (140 meters) to be considered hazardous. Although UA1 was not large enough to pose a threat to the planet, it could have been a sign of larger asteroids. NASA is also researching defensive technologies to protect Earth from collisions with larger space rocks.
NASA representatives stated in a statement that the Double Asteroid Redirection Test will launch on November 24. It will test a method of diverting asteroids using high-speed remote controlled spaceships.
Scientists will launch the DART spacecraft into the near-Earth binary Asteroid Didymos. The DART spacecraft is designed to spin like a top and have two bodies. The larger one measures approximately 2,600 feet (780m) in circumference, while the smaller moonlet measures around 560 feet (160m).
Didymos was closest to Earth in 2003. It skimmed it at a distance approximately 4.5 million miles (7.18 millions km). NASA says that Didymos typically circles the Sun outside Earth's orbital path.
Although Didymos isn't a threat to Earth, it's large enough to determine if the collision can cause a dangerous NEO to be diverted from collision with Earth. According to the statement.
NASA must still detect an asteroid before it hits Earth in order to divert it. NASA is collaborating on this project with the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.
NASA has found approximately 27,000 NEOs to date. According to the CNEOS, about 9800 are at least 459 feet (140m) in diameter while 890 are 0.6 miles (1 km) in circumference.
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Asteroid Monitor shows that UA1 was a relatively small asteroids, but other asteroids were much larger when they passed Earth on Nov. 2. These five space rocks have a diameter of 56 feet (17m), which is about the same length as a house. They also measure 170 feet (52m) in size.
NASA claims that none of these space rocks will be within 515,000 miles (829,900 km) of Earth.
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Live Science originally published this article. You can read the original article here.
