Disturbing discovery: Asteroids approaching Earth may not be discovered | Israel Today

NASA scientists have discovered that celestial objects approaching the Earth from the east may be mistakenly seen as motionless, due to the Earth's daily rotation and orbit around the sun.

The study was launched after the scientific community was shocked in 2019 by "almost missed", in light of the fact that an asteroid about 100 meters in size appears to pass over Earth only 70,000 km away, after its approach was discovered only about 24 hours before.

The asteroid observed at that event, was the largest known object to the scientific community that has passed near Earth at a distance of 70,000 km since 1908.

Earth View from Space, Photo: Photo: NASA

The algorithms that control the observation telescopes are programmed to mark moving objects, in order to avoid misidentification of other space phenomena such as supernovae.

The algorithms take into account the fact that objects approaching Earth are drifting westward in the sky because of the rotation of the planet eastward on its axis.

However, as asteroids approach from the eastern sky, they may appear stationary.

The US Congress has commissioned NASA to identify 90 percent of asteroids 140 meters in diameter and above, which could destroy an area the size of a large city or small country if they hit our planet's earth. A heavy spacecraft into an asteroid to see if this action will divert it from its orbit.

Professor Weinscott, one of the agency's asteroid researchers, said about 40 percent of these objects had already been cataloged: "Once we have cataloged more than 90 percent of the asteroids that threaten us, the number that can crawl towards us without detection from that direction will be small."

The orbit of the spacecraft is on its way to an asteroid impact, Photo: NASA

Crashing a spaceship in an asteroid

Launched from the Wandenberg Space Force Base in California, NASA's experiment is the first experiment in a so-called "kinetic effect technique" that aims to change the motion of an asteroid in space. "Didimus" which is about 780 meters long and which is close to the Earth.

In 2019, NASA spent about $ 150 million on planetary defense plans, 40 times more than the previous decade.

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