Newly discovered asteroid comes closer to Earth than many satellites

The asteroid 2023 BU has only just been discovered and is already rushing past very close to Earth.

It comes closer to the surface than many a satellite.

Update from Thursday, January 26, 2023, 4:30 p.m.:

Tonight (January 26 at 10:17 p.m.) the newly discovered asteroid 2023 BU will fly very close to Earth.

As the US space agency Nasa reports, at a distance of just under 3600 kilometers it will be one of the closest approaches to Earth that has ever been recorded.

It remains the case that the asteroid will not hit Earth, even though it will be well within the ring of geostationary satellites.

But even if 2023 BU were to hit Earth: With an estimated size of 3.5 to 8.5 meters, the asteroid would become a fireball when it entered Earth's atmosphere and burn up harmlessly in Earth's atmosphere.

According to NASA, some larger pieces of debris could fall to earth – but would not cause any damage there.

Asteroid 2023 BU comes very close to Earth

First report from Wednesday, January 25, 2023:

Frankfurt – Asteroids that fly close to Earth are discovered almost every day.

“Near” usually means a distance of several hundred thousand kilometers or more.

But in the case of the recently discovered asteroid 2023 BU, things are different.

It comes very close to the earth - much closer than the geostationary satellites orbiting the blue planet at a distance of almost 36,000 kilometers, as

reported by

The asteroid has a size of 3.8 to 8.5 meters and approaches the earth's surface on Thursday (January 26 at 10:17 p.m.) to within 3506 kilometers.

For comparison: That is less than three percent of the average distance between the earth and the moon (384,400 kilometers).

Asteroid 2023 BU comes closer to Earth than some satellites

The asteroid 2023 BU was only discovered a few days before its closest approach to Earth.

On January 21, 2023, it was first sighted by Russian amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov at the MARGO observatory in Crimea.

Borisov is no stranger to the astronomy scene: he was the one who discovered the first interstellar comet 2I/Borisov in December 2018.

He is also one of the first observers of a possible mini-moon on Earth.

No danger to Earth: Asteroid 2023 BU is too small

Even if the asteroid 2023 BU comes very close to the earth, there is no danger.

"The near-Earth asteroid 2023 BU will have an extremely close but certain encounter with us," writes Italian astronomer Gianluca Masi on the Virtual Telescope project website.

The project will livestream the asteroid during its closest approach to Earth.

The asteroid cannot be seen with the naked eye because of its small size in the sky - unlike a fireball over Canada, which poses a mystery to researchers.

Only large telescopes can detect the small and faint asteroid in the sky.

Asteroid 2023 BU is not dangerous - it would break up

Asteroid 2023 BU has not been classified as "possibly dangerous" by experts.

This is mainly due to its size: it is small and should break apart when it hypothetically enters the earth's atmosphere, the individual parts should burn up.

BU 2023 takes 425 days to orbit the sun once.

It will not come close to Earth again until December 27, 2029 - but then it will be almost nine million kilometers from our planet.

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