Asteroid 2023 DZ2 will zip between Earth and the moon’s orbit on March 25 and may be visible with the right telescope.
The asteroid was discovered last Thursday by astronomers at an observatory site in the Canary Islands, an autonomous community of Spain located off the northwestern coast of Africa. reports CTV News Canada.
Asteroid 2023 DZ2 is a skyscraper-sized asteroid three times the size of the one that blew out windows in Chelyabinsk, Russia in 2013, The asteroid is estimated to be between 144 and 325 feet (44 and 99 meters) in diameter, according to Live Science, citing data from the Minor Planet Center.
Because it crosses Earth’s orbit, the asteroid is known as an Apollo-class asteroid. These Near-Earth-Asteroids (NEA) have sizes less than 10 kilometers (1866 Sisyphus is the largest discovered so far) and form the majority of the population of Earth-crossing and Potentially Hazardous asteroids.
According to the Virtual Telescope Project, fortunately, the asteroid will remain about 107,500 miles (173,000 kilometers) from Earth. The space rock orbits the sun every 3.17 years.
Asteroid 2023 DZ2 will pass 0.5 lunar distances (half the Earth-moon distance) from Earth’s surface, reports EarthSky. The relative closeness will enable observers to see the space rock in six-inch (15 cm) and larger diameter telescopes.
The space rock is traveling at a speed of 17,403 miles per hour (28,008 km/h), or 7.78 km per second, relative to Earth. That may sound very fast, but it is actually sort of slow for an asteroid.
The asteroid’s closest approach to Earth is thought to occur at around 19:51 UTC (3:51 p.m. EDT) on March 25. But the exact time and other details might be updated as more observations come in.
The best time to see asteroid 2023 DZ2 from the Northern Hemisphere will be early on the night of Friday, March 24, 2023. Good luck, and clear skies to you!
