Three hours ago a small asteroid, similar in size and trajectory to the progenitor of the meteorite that fell to Chelyabinsk in February 2013, crossed the Earth, reported the Center for Small Planets of the International Astronomical Union.
This asteroid was opened by the Mount Lemmon Observatory last weekend, and it received the name 2017 TB1. According to current estimates of scientists, its diameter ranges from 27 to 67 meters, which is roughly the estimated size of the asteroid that exploded over the Urals in the winter of 2013.
Today at 7 o’clock in the morning in Moscow he approached the Earth for a maximum distance corresponding to 34 distances between the Moon and our planet, or 13.2 million kilometers. The furthest point of its orbit lies at the inner boundary of the main belt of asteroids behind the orbit of Mars, at a distance about 1.8 times greater than the distance between the Sun and the Earth, and the nearest to the Sun – at approximately the same distance as the Earth’s orbit.
This point, as current calculations of scientists show, he reached October 5 this year, after which he began a return journey towards Mars and the asteroid belt, having met with the Earth. According to the calculations of astronomers, he will return to our planet in about 600 days. This asteroid, as stressed by astronomers, does not pose a threat to humanity and the probability of its collision with the Earth is virtually zero in any foreseeable future.
