Asteroid 2013 BO76, classified as a “potentially hazardous asteroid,” is expected to approach Earth at 5:55 AM on March 25 (Hanoi time).
Asteroid 2013 BO76 is set to fly close to Earth at a speed of 48,300 km/h. Although classified as a “potentially hazardous asteroid” (PHA), 2013 BO76 is projected to approach Earth at a safe distance, according to the Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at NASA.
Image of asteroid 2013 BO76 captured by researcher Gianluca Masi from the Virtual Telescope Project in Italy on March 5. (Photo: Gianluca Masi/Virtual Telescope Project).
The concept of “close approach” is relative. While orbiting the Sun, asteroids sometimes make “close approaches” from the perspective of astronomers, but in reality, they may still be many times farther from Earth than the Moon. In the case of 2013 BO76, this asteroid will come within approximately 5 million km of Earth, which is 13 times the distance from Earth to the Moon.
However, 2013 BO76 is still noteworthy due to its large size. According to CNEOS data, this asteroid is estimated to be between 200 and 450 meters wide. The size of 2013 BO76 is one of the reasons it is classified as a PHA. According to CNEOS, asteroids that are more than 7.5 million km away from Earth or have a diameter of less than 152 meters are not considered PHAs.
Orbital predictions indicate that 2013 BO76 will not come close to Earth again until at least 2193. Scientists currently do not have data on its trajectory beyond this timeframe.
On March 5, Gianluca Masi, an astronomer from the Virtual Telescope Project in Italy, captured images of 2013 BO76 moving through space. In the photo, the asteroid appears as a small bright dot in the center, marked by a white arrow, surrounded by faint stars. At that time, 2013 BO76 was approximately 24 million km away from Earth.
CNEOS data shows that in the next 60 days, the largest asteroid approaching Earth will be 2012 UX68. This asteroid is expected to come within one million km of Earth, which is about 2.7 times farther than the Moon. 2012 UX68 has an estimated maximum diameter of about 91 meters and is projected to fly past Earth on May 15.
