NASA Says Incoming Asteroid Is About to Have a Close Encounter With Earth

NASA Says Incoming Asteroid Is, About to Have a Close Encounter With Earth.

According to NASA, an asteroid currently hurtling toward Earth is expected to make one of the closest passes humanity has ever experienced.

However, 'The Independent' reports that the object is expected to pass by safely.

On the evening of January 26 or early on January 27, the asteroid is expected to make its closest approach.

It is believed to be about 3.5 meters by 8.5 meters.

The asteroid was only spotted days before it's scheduled to pass by Earth.

Amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov discovered the asteroid on January 21.

Once the asteroid was detected, NASA examined it with its Scout system, which is designed to predict the potential threat of collisions.

Scout quickly ruled out 2023 BU as an impactor, but despite the very few observations, it was nonetheless able to predict that the asteroid would make an extraordinarily close approach with Earth, Davide Farnocchia, navigation engineer at JPL, via 'The Independent'.

In fact, this is one of the closest approaches by a known near-Earth object ever recorded, Davide Farnocchia, navigation engineer at JPL, via 'The Independent'.

'The Independent' reports that the near miss will cause the Earth's gravity to significantly alter the orbit of the asteroid.