Two observatories in southern Russia have detected a new asteroid, 2022 SE37, approaching Earth.
The new asteroid poses no danger to Earth. (Illustrative image: Sputnik).
The diameter of asteroid 2022 SE37 monitored by the two observatories on October 1 is 0.5 km. This asteroid orbits the Sun with a period of 3.44 years.
The Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics at the Russian Academy of Sciences stated that in the near future, the new asteroid poses no danger to Earth. The institute also released images of 2022 SE37, captured by telescopes in the village of Kochevanchik and the Kuban State University telescope.
This discovery was announced following the recent mission by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to test a spacecraft collision with an asteroid to alter its trajectory.
Images captured by the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes show the fiery aftermath of the DART spacecraft colliding with the asteroid Dimorphos at high speed on September 26.
The DART mission aims to assess the feasibility of plans to deflect a large asteroid or comet on a collision course with Earth.
While most celestial objects have orbits that do not come too close to Earth, a few possess the potential to threaten our planet. These objects are larger than 140 meters and have orbits within 7.5 million km of the Earth and the Sun. Asteroids and comets with orbits within 48.3 million km of Earth are classified as Near-Earth Objects (NEOs). Accordingly, NASA and other space organizations around the world are researching the threats that NEOs may pose.
