A newly found asteroid has been detected and is alleged to be a quasi-moon, or pretend moon, of Earth. The pretend moon is definitely asteroid 2023 FW13 and orbits the Solar in sync with Earth. Its orbit extends to date that “it sweeps out midway to Mars and in midway to Venus,” based on a latest tweet from Sky and Telescope’s David Chandler.
Asteroid 2023 FW13 was first found in March of this yr and is believed to have been orbiting Earth since no less than 100 B.C. Astronomers additionally imagine that this quasi-moon might keep in orbit with Earth till no less than A.D. 3700.
Astronomers found the asteroid whereas using the Pan-STARRS survey telescope on the Hawaiian Island of Maui. The bottom-based telescope is a 1.8-meter diameter telescope that’s outfitted with the world’s largest digital digicam, with practically 1.4 billion pixels. Each night time the telescope observes about 1,000 sq. levels of the night time sky, utilizing a sequence of 4 exposures spanning about an hour. It’s largely funded by the NASA Close to Earth Remark Program.
Shortly after the asteroid was found, the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in Hawaii and the Kitt Peak Observatory, and Mt. Lemmon Skycenter in Arizona additionally confirmed the discovering, based on a report by House.com. The asteroid then handed all the required checks and balances and was formally introduced on April 1, 2023.
2023 FW13 is believed to be about 65 ft (20 meters) huge, with the Solar having a higher affect on its orbital path than that of Earth. This retains the asteroid in the same orbital path to Earth, very similar to one other quasi-moon often known as Kamo’oalewa (2016 HO3).
The area rock travels across the Solar in the identical period of time as Earth, with the closest go of Earth being inside 9 million miles. Compared, the Moon seen within the night time sky orbits Earth at round 223,693 miles at its closest level. This implies astronomers should not involved about 2023 FW13 colliding with Earth or inflicting different disturbances.
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