Despite the development of advanced technologies by space agencies such as NASA and ESA for asteroid tracking and monitoring, the very first discovery of an asteroid was accidental. It was made by astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi in 1801 while he was making a star map, and he named the object Ceres. With a diameter of about 1000 kilometers (twice the length of New York State), Ceres is also the largest asteroid ever observed. While it’s not as big as Ceres, NASA has issued a warning about an asteroid 2023 HY3 that is expected to come closest to Earth today.
Will Asteroid 2023 HY3 going to hit the Earth?
This asteroid will pass extremely close to Earth, but it is not thought to pose any threat of collision. NASA estimates that Asteroid 2023 HY3 will be about 6.3 million km from Earth as it passes by. It has reached a velocity of 23596 km/h.
Who is monitoring the Asteroid 2023 HY3?
NASA’s Planetary Defence Coordination Office keeps an eye out for Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) that could cause any damage to Earth. An asteroid known as 2023 HY3 has been the subject of a warning from the group. Today, May 1, is when this NEA will get rather close to our planet.
Like its given name, asteroid 1221 Amor, 2023 HY3 is a member of the Amor group of asteroids, which consists of Earth-approaching near-Earth asteroids with orbits outside Earth’s but within Mars’.
Is NASA also involved in the ground based observation as well?
NASA uses a number of ground-based telescopes to observe and analyze far-off asteroids. These telescopes include the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in the Antofagasta Region of the Atacama Desert in Chile.
In addition, NASA has implemented a new impact monitoring system that employs an algorithm dubbed Sentry-Il to determine the potential threat posed by Near-Earth Objects. Using this infrared data, NASA can monitor the asteroid’s orbit and make predictions about its path years in the future. Nearly 28,000 Earth-approaching asteroids have been spotted by various sky-tracking technologies so far.
