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Scientists have discovered a new asteroid along Earth recently. The asteroid dubbed 2023 FW13, is considered a “quasi-moon” or “quasi-satellite”. The new celestial object orbits the sun in a similar time frame as Earth does, as per the media reports. The quai-moon is estimated to be 50 feet (15 metres). While orbiting the Sun, the quasi-moon also circles the Earth, coming within nine million miles (14 million kilometres) of Earth.
For comparison, the moon has a diameter of 2,159 miles (3,474 km) and comes within 364,00 km of Earth at the closest point of its orbit.
The Pan-STARRS observatory first observed the 2023 FW13in March this year. Later the existence of asteroid was confirmed by the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in Hawaii and two observatories in Arizona before being officially listed on April 1 by the Minor Planet Center at the International Astronomical Union–a team of scientists that designates new planets and other celestial objects.
According to a Live Science report, the quasi-moon has been Earth’s cosmic neighbour since around 100 BC. The space rock will continue to follow this orbital path until around 3700 AD.
Notably, this quasi-satellite isn’t on a collision course with Earth despite hovering relatively close to the planet.
Alan Harris, an astronomer at the Space Science Institute, told Sky & Telescope, “The good news is, such an orbit doesn’t result in an impacting trajectory ‘out of the blue”.
2023 FW 13 is not Earth’s only quasi-companion; a different quasi-satellite known as Kamo’oalewa was discovered in 2016. The rock sticks similarly close to our planet during its orbit around the sun. And as per a study, some researchers believe that this new quai-moon could actually be a fragment of Earth’s moon.
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Updated: 01 Jun 2023, 08:00 AM IST
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