2022 SF289 tagged posts

New Algorithm Ensnares its First ‘Potentially Hazardous’ Asteroid

Image showing the orbit of 2022 SF289 (green) at its closest approach to Earth (orbit in blue). Orbits of Venus and Mars are shown in orange and red, respectively.Joachim Moeyens/University of Washington/OpenSpace

An asteroid discovery algorithm – designed to uncover near-Earth asteroids for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s upcoming 10-year survey of the night sky – has identified its first “potentially hazardous” asteroid, a term for space rocks in Earth’s vicinity that scientists like to keep an eye on. The roughly 600-foot-long asteroid, designated 2022 SF289, was discovered during a test drive of the algorithm with the ATLAS survey in Hawaii...

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