International Astronomy Center: Earth is on a date with the brightest passage of a dangerous category asteroid in 12 years on this date

2024-06-25 2024-06-25T20:20:10Z

Tus Al-Arab - Next Saturday, June 29, the Earth will witness the passage of the asteroid (2024 MK) near it at exactly 01:41 PM GMT, and the asteroid will be only 295 thousand kilometers from the Earth, which is equivalent to two-thirds of the distance between the Earth and the Moon. This asteroid, with a diameter of 187 metres, was discovered on June 16 and is classified as a potentially dangerous asteroid.

A bright asteroid will approach Earth

Engineer Muhammad Shawkat Odeh, Director of the International Astronomy Center, explained that what distinguishes this event is that the asteroid will be very bright when it approaches Earth, as its brightness will reach magnitude 8.6, making it visible using a simple telescope if its location in the sky is known. An asteroid of this brilliance has not passed near Earth in more than 12 years, and such a passage will not be repeated until 2028, according to current discoveries.

Odeh pointed out that the asteroid will reach a speed of about 34 thousand kilometers per hour, and its apparent speed in the sky will reach 6.5 degrees per hour, that is, 13 times the apparent speed of the moon. The asteroid will pass through several constellations during the day, starting with the "Rabbit" constellation, then "Carpenter's Square", "Scorpio", "Sagittarius", "Eagle", "Aquarius", "Dolphin", and finally "Portrait".

As for the Arab region, Odeh explained that the asteroid’s passage will occur during the day, and with darkness falling in the eastern Arab world on June 29, the asteroid will reach an appropriate height in the sky by 05:30 p.m. GMT, but its brightness will decrease to magnitude 10, which requires a telescope. Small to monitor.

This traffic is receiving global attention, as many entities will broadcast the event live. The Seal Astronomical Observatory of the International Astronomy Center participates with a group of international observatories in monitoring asteroids that pose a threat to Earth, within a program supervised by the famous Catalina Observatory, where the Seal Observatory has contributed to confirming the discovery of more than 30 asteroids, some of which are close to Earth.

The importance of these asteroids lies in the fact that they pose a real danger if one of them collides with the Earth, so astronomers work to constantly monitor and determine the locations of these objects, as this monitoring contributes to modifying and correcting the orbit of the asteroid, especially if it is affected by the gravity of another celestial body such as Jupiter. The Seal Astronomical Observatory monitors these objects whenever the opportunity arises, and sends monitoring reports to the International Astronomical Union.