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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
World
David Flett & Sophie Collins

Asteroid flying through space at 48,280km/h set for close encounter with Earth

An asteroid travelling at an incredible 48,280 kilometers per hour is on course to narrowly miss a collision with Earth at around 12.30 am Irish time on Friday morning.

The speeding space rock, which has been named 2023 BU, will be the fourth-nearest of 35,000 past and future Earth approaches according to Nasa's Center for Near Earth Object Studies.

Skygazers may not be able to see it with their bare eyes however, you will be able to watch the asteroid whiz past our planet on a Livestream courtesy of robotic, remote-controlled telescopes.

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This is as part of the Virtual Telescope Project that the Bellatrix Astronomical Observatory is operating in Ceccano, Italy.

The asteroid is due to pass Earth at an altitude of around 2,500 miles above the ground which, in astronomical terms, represents a short distance.

The approach is so close that it is less than three percent of the average distance between Earth and the moon.

Astronomers only detected 2023 BU at the weekend but have confirmed that there is no chance of a collision with our planet.

The live feed will start on Thursday at 7.15 pm Irish time. According to the CNEOS data, the space rock only measures between 12.4ft and 27.8ft across, meaning that, even if it was heading for Earth, it would be of little threat.

Nasa advises that asteroids smaller than 82 feet (25 metres) across will most likely burn up when they enter Earth's atmosphere, leading to little or no damage on the ground.

Meanwhile, Astronomy Ireland is setting up giant telescopes at its HQ on the outskirts of Dublin to give the general public one of the “best views in the world”.

Also on view in the telescopes will be the planets Mars and Jupiter offering members of the public a rare chance to see the surfaces of these planets up close.

The moon will also be on view and happens to be close to the brilliant planet Jupiter that night.

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