Car-sized asteroid passes by Earth! Is there any danger?

Experts state that a small space rock has been detected that poses no risk to Earth.

The car-sized asteroid, named 2024 CY1 and discovered last week, passed between the Earth and the Moon on Monday at a close but safe distance. This space rock passed at a distance of nearly one-third of the distance between the Earth and the Moon. According to the Virtual Telescope Project, this asteroid passed by the planet at a distance of approximately 121 thousand kilometers.

Experts state that this object, which has a diameter of only 4 to 8 meters, poses no risk to Earth. With this discovery, it is the 10th time this year that an asteroid has been observed within 1 lunar distance of Earth.

At the same time, a similar event occurred in February of this year. Astronomers had detected an asteroid rapidly approaching Earth just a few hours before it entered the planet's atmosphere.

Space enthusiasts had found fragments of the space rock named 2024 BXI, which burned up after turning into a harmless fireball in the skies over Berlin last month.

To date, astronomers have discovered approximately 25 thousand asteroids with the potential to completely destroy at least one city. However, the European Space Agency states that there may be approximately 1 million asteroids of similar size near Earth, and that about 99 percent of these may not yet have been discovered.

For this reason, space agencies and governments around the world are working to detect such objects and develop methods to protect Earth from them. For example, ESA's Neomir satellite observatory is being developed to be used as an early warning system against asteroids and is planned to be launched around 2030.

News Source: 12punto