LIVE TRACKING | Asteroid 2023 BU | NASA Simulation Real Time

 Don't Panic! - Absolutely do not panic, but there is a large asteroid about to pass by Earth in the coming hours.

About the size of a minibus, the space rock known as 2023 BU will whip up the southern tip of South America just after midnight GMT.

With an expected closest approach of 3,600 km (2,200 miles), it counts as a close shave.

And it shows how significant-sized asteroids still lurk near Earth and await detection.

This was taken last weekend by amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov, who operates on the Nauchnyi peninsula in Crimea, which Russia captured from Ukraine in 2014.

Follow-up observations have clarified what we know about the size and, most importantly, orbit of 2023 BU.

That way, astronomers can be sure that the earth, 36,000 km (22,000 miles) above us, will miss the planet, even if it enters the broadcast occupied by telecommunications satellites.

The chance of hitting a satellite is very, very low.

The lowest altitude time on Thursday is calculated as 19.27 EST; 00:27 GMT on Friday.

ERGUN BOZ

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