Tonight, the asteroid will pass close to Earth and can be observed through small telescopes.

In new news that is far from apocalypticAsteroid 2024 MK will pass close to Earth this Saturday evening, at a distance equivalent to three-quarters of the distance to the Moon.

This news means joy for astronomers who will be observing it at observatories with powerful telescopes, as well as for Astronomy enthusiasts will be able to see it with a small telescope. Experts say the asteroid is best seen from the southern hemisphere, and the phenomenon is described as an event that occurs approximately every 25 years.

The space rock was first discovered two weeks ago by an observatory in South Africa. Width 120 and 260 meters.

«Smaller objects are constantly passing by the Earth. We will see some of them throughout our lives. but that’s not something that happens every day,” said Davide Farnocchia, an asteroid expert at NASA’s Near-Earth Object Research Center.

Although fans will need a small telescope to view it, the stone is not bright enough to be seen with the naked eyeafter sunset the enthusiasm is total. But be careful, because it will take some effort to capture it: the object will move at high speed across the southern sky, which will make it difficult to observe.

“The asteroid will pass through this star field,” he said. Nick Moskowitz Lowell Observatory astronomer. Those in the southern hemisphere will have a better chance of seeing it because it will appear at a higher altitude. Those in the United States may have to wait until Saturday evening, when it will be dimmer, but will be easier to see without the glare of the sun.

In accordance with European Space Agency (ESA), The object will be 290.00 kilometers from the Earth’s surface, and they stress that while there is no chance of it colliding with Earth, an asteroid of this size could cause “significant damage.”

For this reason, the recent discovery demonstrates how important it is to continue to improve the detection and monitoring of potentially dangerous objects.

Astronomers say if you don’t get a chance to see it, there will be another one on April 13, 2029, when an asteroid called Apophis will pass by Earth and be visible to the naked eye from parts of Europe, Africa and Asia.

The biggest visitor this week was asteroid (415029) 2011 UL21. This body with a diameter of 2310 m exceeds 99% of all known near-Earth objects. However, he did not come that close to Earth. At its closest point, on June 27, it was more than 17 times farther from the Moon.

This asteroid’s orbit around the Sun is steeply inclined, which is unusual for such a large object. Most large objects in the solar system, including planets and asteroids, orbit the sun in or near the equatorial plane.

This could be the result of gravitational interactions with a large planet like Jupiter. Jupiter can deflect previously harmless asteroids toward Earth, so understanding this process is important.

ESA’s Planetary Protection Directorate is implementing a number of projects aimed at improving our ability to detect, track and mitigate the impacts of potentially hazardous asteroids.

ESA’s Hera mission, launching later this year, is part of the world’s first asteroid deflection test. Hera will conduct a detailed study of the asteroid Dimorphos following the impact of NASA’s DART mission in September 2022 and will help develop the experiment into a well-understood and repeatable method for planetary defense.