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On Friday 13th, a space rock flew low and close to our planet to the point of setting a record. The 2020 VT4 crossed less than 400 kilometers in the South Pacific. The asteroid was spotted by Earth’s Asteroid Impact Alert System (ATLAS) in the early morning hours of Saturday November 14. This is not uncommon for fast racing cars, especially asteroids that come to Earth from our “blind spot”, the transient facing the sun.
According to information from ATLAS, the asteroid passed very close and we didn’t even notice it, “luckily” it wasn’t large and didn’t have an impact course with Earth.
The asteroid has invaded the surroundings of the Earth without realizing it
2020 VT4 is a small asteroid classified as NEO (Objects Near Earth) that has begun to scrape the Earth.
According to data collected after it has already crossed the vicinity of the planet, the the rock passed 370 km above the earth's surface on November 13, 2020 at 5:20 pm.
Initially known by its internal designation A10sHcN, the asteroid was discovered by ATLAS at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, fifteen hours after its closest position to Earth. As it was possible to observe, the encounter with the planet disturbed the trajectory of the asteroid. It has an Apollo-type orbit that traverses the Earth to an Aten-type orbit.
The newly discovered asteroid A10sHcN approached Earth yesterday, passing only a few hundred miles above the South Pacific Ocean. This encounter shortened its orbit, ensuring that this Earth cruiser will make more frequent approaches. Http://t.co/TmkzojIzPf pic.twitter.com/XrnKiiGTyJ
- Tony Dunn (@ tony873004) November 14, 2020
Never has a star like this passed so close to Earth
2020 VT 4 has passed closer to Earth than any known asteroid, except those that have become meteorites. This has come closer than the 2020 headquarters and 2011 CQ1, which passed approximately 3,000 km and 5,500 km from the earth's surface, respectively.
Astronomers estimate that asteroid 2020 VT4 is between 5 and 10 meters in diameter, about the size of a small house. Thus, this step sets a record for the passage of asteroids in relation to the Earth not hitting the surface. This record has already been broken once this year, with the passage of the aforementioned asteroid 2020 HQ, on August 16.
Despite passing very close, his passage does not appear to have been witnessed.
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