"International Astronomy": Asteroid discovered that may collide with Earth after 23 years

The International Astronomy Center reported that on February 27, 2023, an asteroid called (2023 DW) was discovered, and it soon became clear that this asteroid is worth following because it may pose a danger to the Earth and collide with it in 2046 AD.

The Director of the International Astronomy Center, Engineer Muhammad Shawkat Odeh, said: "Based on 46 observations of the asteroid in 3 days, astronomical calculations indicated that its orbit passes close to the Earth's orbit and is only 75,<> km away, which is a fifth of the moon's distance from us, which is considered a small distance. The orbit is still inaccurate due to the lack of observations, meaning that the orbit may change and intersect with Earth's orbit as the number of observations of the asteroid increases."

Shawkat added: "What has increased the importance of following this asteroid is that preliminary calculations indicated that the asteroid will pass close to the Earth on February 14, 2046 AD, and it will be at a distance ranging from 1500 km to 24 million km from the center of the Earth, if the minimum distance is achieved, it is less than the radius of the Earth, which means that this asteroid will collide with it at that time, and current calculations indicate that the impact rate is very small and amounts to 0.0013%, despite It is small but it exists, and the inaccuracy of the orbit makes the subject worthy of attention and close observation of the asteroid.

He pointed out that the diameter of the asteroid is about 50 meters, so even if the collision occurs, the damage caused by it is limited and local, but it may be tangible. The asteroid orbits the sun once every 271 days, and its last passage near Earth was on Feb. 18, when it was 9 million km away, and it was shining about 19 percent.

The Observatory of the Astronomical Seal of the International Astronomy Center participates with a group of global observatories in monitoring some asteroids that pose a danger to Earth, within a program supervised by the famous Catalina Observatory, and it should be noted that a number of experts saw in this asteroid what deserves directing the "James Webb" space telescope to monitor it and determine its accurate orbit, but this was opposed by another team that saw that the time of the space telescope is more precious than that, especially since the field is available for some ground observatories to monitor This asteroid and that there is plenty of time until the year 2046, they say. However, it is not so easy to detect from ground-based observatories, as it is a moving object and now shines at 19.8, which is constantly distant and dimmed, making it possible to observe it for professional observatories located in dark places.