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China discovers potentially dangerous asteroid

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jorgebgt
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11 months agoSteemit2 min read

( December, 02, 2023; https://www.tasnimnews.com/ )


China discovers potentially dangerous asteroid



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There are asteroids that we still do not know about and every time a potentially dangerous one is discovered, as Chinese astronomers recently discovered, they have discovered a potentially dangerous asteroid called 2023 WX1, it has an estimated diameter of 170 m and its orbit approximates it to about 6.2 million km from the Earth.


For an asteroid to be considered potentially dangerous, it must be at least 140 m in diameter and cross the Earth's orbit at less than 7 and a half million kilometers. These are the two basic criteria. There are some more criteria, but basically they are those two.


This one that the Chinese have discovered meets the requirements, which does not mean that it is an imminent threat, at least not now or in the next 100 years, but this discovery helps us to see that there are still asteroids to be discovered and that some of the that remain to be discovered can cause us a lot of harm.


It is an issue that must improve planetary defense and also improve the detection of asteroids.


Discovered on November 18, the celestial bodies were detected by the Wide Field Survey Telescope (WFST), operational since September 2023 in northwest China's Qinghai Province. The Minor Planet Center, under the International Astronomical Union, officially confirmed the findings, designating the asteroids as 2023 WX1 and 2023 WB2.


2023 WX1, with an estimated diameter of 170 meters, falls under the category of Potentially Hazardous Asteroid, as it possesses an "Earth Minimum Orbit Intersection Distance of 0.0416 astronomical units," equivalent to 6.22 million km, astronomers highlighted in a statement on Wednesday.


If you want to read the full note here the link.

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