A large asteroid, which could potentially destroy a city, will pass between the orbits of the Earth and the Moon this weekend, but it will luckily miss both. The asteroid, named 2023 DZ2, was discovered a month ago and is estimated to be between 40 and 90 meters in diameter. It will pass within 175,000 km of the Earth at 19:49 GMT on Saturday, which is considered a once-in-a-decade event by astronomers. While there is no risk of the asteroid hitting Earth, its close approach will provide an opportunity for astronomers to increase their knowledge of asteroids.
Richard Moissl, the European Space Agency's planetary defense chief, said that while there is no chance of this "city killer" striking Earth, its close approach offers a great opportunity for observations. Moissl also mentioned that preliminary data suggested 2023 DZ2 was a scientifically interesting object and that more data was needed to determine the asteroid's composition.
Despite the asteroid's potential to cause harm, scientists have ruled out any threat to the planet on this occasion, as well as its return towards Earth's orbit in 2026. The asteroid could be visible through binoculars and small telescopes across the globe, and a live web broadcast of its approach will be provided by The Virtual Telescope Project.
Earlier this month, another asteroid of a similar size, 2023 DW, was briefly given a one-in-432 chance of hitting Earth on Valentine's Day in 2046. However, scientists have now ruled it out as a threat to the planet, as it is expected to miss Earth by around 4.3 million km.
NASA's Dart (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft deliberately slammed into the pyramid-sized asteroid Dimorphos last year. Before the impact, Dimorphos took 11 hours and 55 minutes to orbit its larger parent asteroid, Didymos.