Strange objects flying near the Earth were originally allegedly a planet, which was actually Tesla cars flying into space since 2018.
Tesla electric car in the space. Image: Tesla
On January 2, the Small Planet Center (MPC) of the Harvard-Smithsonian Astronomical Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, named the new “asteroid” discovered by a Turkish amateur astronomer. 2018 CN41. 2018 CN41 flew over 241,000 km from the Earth, closer to the moon, which can be classified as an object near the Earth (Neo).
But then, MPC quickly announced that 2018 CN41 was excluded from the file because it was not a planet but actually a car launched up the space about 7 years ago, Newsweek January 27 reported.
On February 6, 2018, Elon Musk and SpaceX attracted great attention when launching a Tesla Roadster car into the space on the first flight of the Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. At that time, Falcon Heavy needs a test and Musk decided to use his personal Tesla Roadster. The car is equipped with a camera to provide impressive images of the earth and space. Starman mannequin wears Spacex’s universe behind the steering wheel.
“First, I went to the small objects of the laboratory laboratory (JPL), quickly researched the days of the object approaching the earth and approaching Mars, to see if it could be linked to them with Interdisciplinary mission or not. I have failed – I never thought of the Falcon launch. Mailing List (Astronomers community and asteroids) to eliminate the final doubts, “the Turkish amateur scientist said.
That was when Jonathan McDowell, astronomer at Harvard-Smithsonian Astronomical Center, began to doubt about 2018 CN41. After the investigation, McDowell realized the flight route of this object completely matched the upper layer of the Falcon Heavy rocket, the part of the Tesla Roadster car launched in 2018.
Although quite interesting, this astronomical confusion case caused some scientists to worry, especially when this was not the first time an artificial object was confused with the asteroid. NASA’s WMAP at the Lagrange L2 in the space was added to MPC’s object of confirmation near the Earth (NEOPP) of MPC several times, while the Rosetta ship aimed at comet 67P/Churyumov-Golasimenko was once mistaken as a whom. Tinh 2007 VN84.
“This incident, along with NEOPP’s previous confusion about the WMAP, emphasized that the location information is available for artificial objects far away. The distance artificially will be very expected, “MPC said when the 2007 VN84 type from the file.