Truck-sized asteroid to pass by Earth on Thursday

Discovered just this past weekend by amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov, asteroid 2023 BU will zoom over the tip of South America only 2,200 miles above the Earth's surface on Thursday January 26, at about 7:27 p.m. EST.

There is no risk of the asteroid impacting Earth. But even if it did, it is too small, estimated at between 11.5 to 28 feet across, would burn up in the atmosphere in a fireball that would largely disintegrate in the atmosphere.

The asteroid will arrive above the North pole before being drawn in by Earth's gravity, pass harmlessly above Cape Horn, and exit out above the plane of the Earth's orbit around the Sun again.

That path takes the asteroid well within the Moon's orbit (238,900 miles) and within the 22,236 mile orbit of geosynchronous satellites like NOAA's GOES satellites used in weather forecasting, but well above the 250 mile orbit of the International Space Station.