An asteroid the size of Big Ben is approaching the Earth at a speed of 28,000 kilometers per hour, and on Saturday it will be closer to us than the Moon when it passes by our planet.
Namely, asteroid 2023 DZ2 will be only 173,000 kilometers away from Earth on Saturday, which is twice as close as the average distance of the Moon from our planet.
Current estimates are that the diameter of the asteroid is about 93 meters, and it will be closest to us at 8:51 p.m. Croatian time. It will be visible from the northern hemisphere only a minute later, while according to NASA’s calculations, it should be the brightest for observers from Southeast Asia, the Daily Mail reports.
According to NASA, an asteroid of this size appears at such a close distance from Earth once every ten years, but there is no danger to the planet. Although it is not known exactly where it came from, most of the asteroids that pass near Earth are located in the main asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars.
2023 DZ2 was spotted by scientists on February 27 in Spain from the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in La Palma on the Canary Islands as part of the European project for the study of near-Earth asteroids.