Barely two weeks after asteroid 2023 EY's close flyby of Earth on March 17, another space rock is preparing to graze our planet on March 25, passing once again within the distance separating Earth from Moon: this time it's asteroid
2023 DZ2
, which will reach a minimum distance of about 168,000 kilometers from the earth's surface, i.e. less than half the distance between our planet and its satellite, but in any case completely safe.
The closest approach to the Earth is expected
at 20.52 Italian time on March 25
, but the new visitor will continue to be visible also in the following hours.
To be able to observe the asteroid, visible
in the northern hemisphere,
you need a
telescope of at least 15 centimeters in diameter
: 2023 DZ2 will appear as a slowly moving star above the south-eastern horizon, east of the constellations of Orion and Canis Major and Minor.
It will also be possible to observe it live, thanks to the event organized by the Virtual Telescope, which will also be broadcast online on ANSA Scienza starting at 00.30 in the night between 25 and 26 March.
The asteroid 2023 DZ2 has an estimated diameter between 40 and 100 meters, at least three times greater than the one that exploded in 2013 over Chelyabinsk and travels at a speed of about 28 thousand kilometers per hour.
The
first observation
of this asteroid took place in
February 2023
, thanks to the La Palma Observatory in the Canary Islands.
Initially, it appeared that 2023 DZ2 would have a one in 430 chance of hitting Earth on its next pass, in 2026, since it makes one full orbit around the Sun in just over three years.
But subsequent calculations, based on more accurate data, eliminated even this remote possibility, as noted by the European Space Agency (ESA) on Twitter.
