New data has emerged about one of the most dangerous asteroids, which could potentially hit Earth. The 50-meter-wide asteroid, cataloged 2021 QM1, was first detected in August 2021 by the Mount Lemmon Observatory in Arizona.
Based on previous calculations, they believed that the asteroid would come dangerously close to Earth, and even an impact was not considered an unlikely scenario. However, the light of the Sun made it difficult to follow the trajectory of the asteroid and thus determine its path more precisely.
Science Photo Library via AFP
That's why the researchers waited, and now they examined the movement of the asteroid again. The European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) research instrument managed to take pictures of the space rock. Based on the photos, the path of the celestial body was determined more precisely, and based on the current data, it seems that it does not pose a threat to us, and has been removed from the list of dangerous asteroids.
According to the new data, 2021 QM1 is one of the faintest asteroids ever observed; at magnitude 27 on the scale used to determine brightness, QM1 was 250 million times fainter than the faintest stars yet visible to the naked eye.
Source: Origo
(Header image: Library via AFP
