Asteroid the size of a bus flies past the Earth-Information Technology

The Virtual Telescope Project went live on March 13, showing a view of the recently found asteroid 2022 ES3, passing our planet just within the orbit of the Moon.

The position of the asteroid that flew past Earth as observed by the Virtual Telescope Project.

Asteroid 2022 ES3 was up to 12m wide – about the size of a bus – and passed within 330,000 km of today’s Earth.

The Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona discovered the asteroid on March 7 as an example of near-Earth asteroid detection and has published online its orbit and other details. motion and size of this asteroid.

According to Newsweek, the asteroid is not considered “potentially dangerous”, possibly due to its size. The closest asteroid will approach Earth at a safe distance, about 87% of the average distance from the Earth to the Moon. The Moon is usually about 384,400 km from Earth.

NASA tracks asteroids through partner telescopes and space observations, coordinated through the Planetary Defense Coordination Office. Although the agency did not find any problems imminent, it is still testing asteroid defense technologies to be proactive.