Watch house-size asteroid 2023 MU2 fly by Earth at over 2,000 mph (video)

News
By Robert Lea
published

The near-Earth object 2023 MU2 was seen by the Virtual Project as it made a close approach to our planet on the evening of June 25.

A house-size asteroid raced past Earth at a staggering 2,000 miles per hour on Sunday, June 25. But even at this incredible speed, the near-Earth object (NEO) 2023 MU2 couldn't outrace observation by astronomers.

Capturing particularly impressive footage of the speeding asteroid traveling at two and half times the speed of sound was the Virtual Telescope Project operated by astronomer Gianluca Masi, who caught an impressive look at 2023 MU2 from Italy at 8:47 p.m. EDT on June 25 (0047 GMT on June 26). 

The moving time-lapse image of the asteroid, which NASA estimates is between 13.5 and 30.1 feet (4.1 and 9.2 meters) in diameter, was created by Masi using several different telescope images and shows background stars racing past 2023 MU2, demonstrating its impressive speed.

Related: What are asteroids?

Asteroid 2023 MU2 close approach to Earth was captured by Gianluca Masi from the Virtual Telescope Project on June 26, 2023. It passed within 134,000 miles (215,000 kilometers) of Earth on June 25 at 7:19 p.m. ET (2319 GMT). (Image credit: Gianluca Masi/The Virtual Telescope Project)

"The image above comes from a single 60-second exposure, remotely taken with the Celestron C14+Paramount ME+SBIG ST8-XME robotic unit available as part of the Virtual Telescope Project. The telescope tracked the asteroid," Masi wrote on the Virtual Telescope Project website. "At the imaging time, asteroid 2023 MU2 was at about 217,000 kilometers [135,000 miles] soon after the flyby, with the object already leaving us."

"To achieve this, our robotic telescope tracked at the very specific rates of the asteroid, this is why it looks like a sharp dot of light, while stars leave trails," Masi said. 

Fortunately, astronomers could watch the passage of this asteroid with little concern. Discovered on June 16 and then confirmed on June 22 by the International Astronomical Union Minor Planet Center, 2023 MU2 posed no risk of striking our planet.

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The asteroid still came pretty close, reaching a minimum distance from Earth, or perigee, of just 134,000 miles (215,000 kilometers) on June 25 at 7:19 p.m. EDT (2319 GMT). To put that in context, it is 60% less than the average distance between Earth and the moon.

The Virtual Telescope Project was able to stream the passage of 2023 MU2 on Sunday despite some issues with the weather in Italy. "We had to delay the start of our live imaging session because of the strong wind, then we succeeded," Masi said. 

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Robert Lea
Robert Lea
Senior Writer

Robert Lea is a science journalist in the U.K. whose articles have been published in Physics World, New Scientist, Astronomy Magazine, All About Space, Newsweek and ZME Science. He also writes about science communication for Elsevier and the European Journal of Physics. Rob holds a bachelor of science degree in physics and astronomy from the U.K.’s Open University. Follow him on Twitter @sciencef1rst.

5 Comments Comment from the forums
  • p3orion
    "Racing past", "zoomed", "staggering 2000 mph", "incredible speed"

    Am I missing something? While mach 2.5 is impressive (but not unheard of) for a tactical military jet, it seems a bit pedestrian for astronomical objects. Objects in low Earth orbit go nearly nine times as fast, and even the moon, more than twice as far from Earth as this asteroid's passage, lopes along in its orbit at about 1700 mph.

    How fast do close-passing asteroids usually go?
    Reply
  • Unclear Engineer
    Yes, there is something wrong with this number. If that was actually the total differential speed at its "closest approach" distance, then it should not have been able to avoid going into orbit around the Earth.

    I am wondering if that was some sort of apparent speed, given the angle of observation, and there was another component to the speed vector going radially away from the line of observation that made enough total velocity so that the path past the Earth is "open" instead of becoming a closed ellipse.
    Reply
  • p3orion
    Unclear Engineer said:
    Yes, there is something wrong with this number. If that was actually the total differential speed at its "closest approach" distance, then it should not have been able to avoid going into orbit around the Earth.

    I am wondering if that was some sort of apparent speed, given the angle of observation, and there was another component to the speed vector going radially away from the line of observation that made enough total velocity so that the path past the Earth is "open" instead of becoming a closed ellipse.
    I would have thought so too, but the writer seems pretty definite. It's not a typo either, as he expressed the speed as both 2000 mph and Mach 2.5 (not exact, but close enough.) And it can't be an unusual apparent speed; every object passes at a 90 degree angle at or close to its closest point of approach.

    Maybe it was a slow news day, or the writer is just easily impressed.

    By the way: "Unclear Engineer", nice!
    Reply
  • Unclear Engineer
    I did check other places on the Internet, and did not find any other speed or explanation.

    And, I agree that the direction should be perpendicular to the line of sight at the "closest approach" point.

    But, the physics/orbital mechanics are pretty clear that what was reported cannot be correct. So, the only issue is what the reporter(s) got wrong because they don't understand orbital mechanics. It is pretty clear that somebody who is impressed with "2,000 mph" has nil understanding of the speeds involved with aircraft, launch vehicles. or satellite orbits.

    Common, Space.com, find the problem and fix this article.
    Reply
  • p3orion
    Looks like the "fix" was to change the title to remove "zoomed," but near as I can tell, the text is the same as it was.

    As for "nil understanding" note the author's credentials: BS in physics and astronomy from an online college.
    Reply