A skyscraper-sized asteroid passes near Earth today

New Delhi:

An asteroid named 2024 BR4 is scheduled to pass by Earth on Valentine's Day this year. The diameter of this asteroid ranges between 140 and 310 meters, approximately the size of a skyscraper, and it will approach a distance of 4.6 million kilometers from our planet, that is, less than twelve times the distance to the moon.

This fast-moving space rock, which was discovered just weeks ago by the Catalina Sky Survey on January 30, belongs to the group of asteroids known as Apollos, and is characterized by its orbits extending far beyond Earth's orbit, intersecting with our own. A recent 120-second image captured with a Celestron robotic unit, part of the world Virtual telescope projectprovided a glimpse into this interplanetary traveler.

At the time of imaging, 2024 BR4 was about 12 million kilometers from Earth and steadily approaching. The impressive details of his journey were captured using the Celestron C14+Paramount ME+SBIG ST8-XME robotic unit, demonstrating the power of international collaboration. Like the virtual telescope project.

With the asteroid approaching the minimum distance of 4.6 million kilometres, nearly 12 times the average lunar distance today, experts said there was no reason for concern. Vigilantly tracking more than 33,000 near-Earth objects, NASA said the risk of any major impact on our planet remains minimal for the foreseeable future.