London Bus-Sized Asteroid Will Fly By Earth Friday, NASA Warns

Another huge asteroid is heading close to Earth this week. NASA discovered it traveling toward the planet last weekend.

London Bus-Sized Asteroid Making a Flyby to Earth

The asteroid named 2023 BU is about the size of a London bus or half the size of the famous Chelyabinsk meteor that hit Earth in 2013. It will make its fourth closest approach to Earth Friday, Daily Mail reported.

NASA discovered the space rock last weekend. It will come within 2,100 miles (3,400 km) of our planet's surface at about 00:30 GMT (19:30 ET on Thursday).

The outlet noted that most asteroids pass beyond the distance of the moon, which is 240,000 miles, but the one approaching this week is far closer and will be the nearest flyby in 300 years.

According to NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), which holds data from 1900 to 2200, the asteroid will make its fourth closest past of more than 35,000 past, and future Earth approaches. Those interested in watching the flyby can view the live stream hosted by the Virtual Telescope Project (VTP) in Italy. It will be available for people to witness from 19:15 GMT (14:15 ET).

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More About Asteroid 2023 BU

Although it appears big, it isn't massive enough to make a huge impact. According to Sky Live, it is considered a Near Earth Object (NEO) because its orbit is close to intersecting the Earth's orbit.

However, they are closely monitored, and based on the high precision position observations and celestial mechanic computations by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the asteroid is not going to impact Earth in the near future.

According to Daily Mail, it is so small that it will just shine at a maximum of 11.3 magnitude, which is too faint to be seen by the naked eye. Thus, powerful telescopes like the VTP's 14-inch and 17-inch robotic in Ceccano must observe it for coverage.

Asteroid 2023 BU is about 12.4 by 27.8 feet, about the same size as the original Routemaster London bus. Space rocks smaller than 82 feet likely burn up if they enter the Earth's atmosphere, according to NASA, causing little to no damage on the ground.

Chelyabinsk Asteroid Explosion Revisited

On Feb. 15, 2013, a small asteroid, about 65 feet, entered the Earth. It moved at 12 miles per second when it struck our planet's protective blanket of air resulting in the asteroid's explosion.

An explosion occurred about 20 miles above the city of Chelyabinsk in Russia with energy 20 to 30 times the Hiroshima atomic bomb.

The shock wave resulted in broken windows. It also knocked down some parts of the buildings in six Russian cities. About 1,500 individuals seek medical help due to injuries from flying glass.

According to EarthSky, it was the most powerful explosion caused by an asteroid since the Tunguska event, which flattened a wide area of forest, and killed reindeer in Siberia in 1908.