Today an asteroid will fly close to Earth: how to see the celestial "guest" live

In a few hours, at a smaller distance than the Earth from the Moon, an asteroid will cross the sky.

The airplane-sized asteroid will pass at a distance of 354,000 km from Earth. It is worth noting that you can watch it through the Virtual Telescope Project from 19:15 (Greece time).

The space alien, called 2024 BJ, was discovered on January 17, and on January 27 it will fly at a distance of 354 thousand km from Earth – this is slightly less than the average radius of the lunar orbit. Its size does not exceed 50 m, that is, it is 2-3 times larger than the Chelyabinsk Fireball. Despite this, a collision with it does not threaten us with a global catastrophe, although the fall of such a body in densely populated areas could have serious consequences.

Astronomers recorded it the day after it was determined that it will fly past our planet without incident. Although the asteroid is believed to have “very close contact” with Earth, it is not inherently dangerous, according to the Virtual Telescope Project.

Object 2024 BJ belongs to the group of “Apollos” – asteroids whose aphelions are located outside the Earth’s orbit, and perihelia inside it. It is easy to understand that such bodies have the greatest chance of colliding with the Earth, and what saves us from this is that their trajectories are quite strongly inclined to the ecliptic.

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