Barely two weeks after Asteroid 2023 EY’s close flyby of 2023 EY on March 17, another space rock is poised to graze our planet on March 25, passing again within the distance separating Earth from the Moon: this time it is the asteroid 2023 DZD 2Which will reach a distance of no less than 168,000 km from the Earth’s surface, less than half the distance between our planet and the satellite, but in any case it is completely safe.
It is expected to be the closest approach to Earth At 20.52 Italian time on March 25thOr, but the new visitor will also remain visible in the following hours. To be able to observe the asteroid, visible in the northern hemisphere, need a Telescope with a diameter of at least 15 cm: 2023 DZ2 will appear as a slowly moving star above the southeastern horizon, east of the constellations Orion and Canis Major and Minor.
It will also be possible to watch it live, thanks to the event organized by Virtual Telescope, which will also be broadcast online on ANSA Scienza starting at 00.30 at night between March 25 and 26.
Asteroid 2023 DZ2 has a diameter of between 40 and 100 metres, at least three times larger than the one that exploded in 2013 over Chelyabinsk and is traveling at about 28,000 kilometers per hour.
there The first note From this asteroid fell in February 2023Thanks to the La Palma Observatory in the Canary Islands. At first, it looked as if 2023 DZ2 would have a one in 430 chance of hitting Earth on its next pass, in 2026, since it orbits the Sun one full orbit in just over three years. But later calculations, based on more accurate data, eliminated this remote possibility, As noted by the European Space Agency (ESA) on Twitter.
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