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There are hundreds of millions of asteroids in our solar system, which means new asteroids are discovered quite frequently. It also means close encounters between asteroids and Earth are fairly common. Some of these close encounters end up with the asteroid impacting Earth, occasionally with severe consequences.

A recently discovered asteroid, named 2023 BU, has made the news because today it passed very close to Earth.

Discovered on January 21 by amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov in Crimea, 2023 BU passed only about 3,600 km from the surface of Earth (near the southern tip of South America) six days later on January 27.

That distance is just slightly farther than the distance between Perth and Sydney and is only about 1 percent of the distance between Earth and our Moon.

The asteroid also passed through the region of space that contains a significant proportion of the human-made satellites orbiting Earth.

All this makes 2023 BU the fourth-closest known asteroid encounter with Earth, ignoring those that have impacted the planet or our atmosphere.

How does 2023 BU rate as an asteroid and a threat? 2023 BU is unremarkable, other than that it passed so close to Earth. The diameter of the asteroid is estimated to be just 4–8m, which is on the small end of the range of asteroid sizes.

There are likely hundreds of millions of such objects in our solar system, and it is possible 2023 BU has come close to Earth many times before over the millennia. Until now, we have been oblivious to the fact.

In context, on average a 4-metre-diameter asteroid will impact Earth every year and an 8-metre-diameter asteroid every five years or so Asteroids of this size pose little risk to life on Earth when they hit because they largely break up in the atmosphere. They produce spectacular fireballs, and some of the asteroids may make it to the ground as meteorites.

Now that 2023 BU has been discovered, its orbit around the Sun can be estimated and future visits to Earth predicted. It is estimated there is a 1 in 10,000 chance 2023 BU will impact Earth sometime between 2077 and 2123.

So, we have little to fear from 2023 BU or any of the many millions of similar objects in the Solar System.

Asteroids need to be greater than 25m in diameter to pose any significant risk to life in a collision with Earth; to challenge the existence of civilisation, they’d need to be at least a kilometre in diameter.

It is estimated there are fewer than 1,000 such asteroids in the Solar System and could impact Earth every 5,00,000 years. We know about more than 95 per cent of these objects.

Will there be more close asteroid passes? 2023 BU was the fourth closest pass by an asteroid ever recorded. The three closer passes were by very small asteroids discovered in 2020 and 2021 (2021 UA, 2020 QG and 2020 VT).

Asteroid 2023 BU and countless other asteroids have passed very close to Earth during the nearly five billion years of the Solar System’s existence, and this situation will continue into the future.

What has changed in recent years is our ability to detect asteroids of this size, such that any threats can be characterised. That an object roughly 5m in size can be detected many thousands of kilometres away by a very dedicated amateur astronomer shows that the technology for making significant astronomical discoveries is within reach of the general public. This is very exciting.

Amateurs and professionals can together continue to discover and categorise objects, so threat analyses can be done. Another very exciting recent development came last year, by the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, which successfully collided a spacecraft into an asteroid and changed its direction.

DART makes plausible the concept of redirecting an asteroid away from a collision course with Earth if a threat analysis identifies a serious risk with enough warning.

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Rare Titan Shadow Transits Will Sweep Across Saturn in Summer 2025

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June 30, 2025

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Rare Titan Shadow Transits Will Sweep Across Saturn in Summer 2025

Saturn’s largest moon Titan will cast its shadow across the planet’s surface in a rare spectacle this summer. Over the coming months, observers on Earth may see a dark “hole” move across Saturn’s disk as Titan passes in front of the planet. This event is tied to a special alignment: roughly every 15 years, Saturn’s rings become edge-on to our view (a ring-plane crossing or equinox). Indeed, in March 2025 the rings briefly vanished as they lined up edge-on, setting the stage for Titan’s shadow to loom large on Saturn’s globe. After this year’s transit season, the configuration won’t recur until about 2040, making these transits uniquely unmissable.

Saturn’s Equinox and Titan’s Transits

According to Space.com, right now Saturn is near its equinox, meaning its tilted rings are edge-on to Earth. This geometry allows Titan’s shadow – a dark spot on Saturn – to sweep across the planet’s face, much like a lunar eclipse but on Saturn. Titan orbits Saturn about every 16 days, so during this alignment we can see its shadow cross Saturn’s disk repeatedly. In fact, roughly ten Titan shadow-transit events are expected during 2025. Three have already occurred (most recently on June 16), and seven more are forecast from July through early October 2025. When visible, each transit looks like a moving dark spot (a “hole”) on Saturn’s bright disk.

Viewing the Titan Shadow Transits

These transits are faint and require planning. A good telescope (at least 200× magnification) is needed to see Titan and its shadow. For viewers in North America, Saturn will be low in the pre-dawn sky during the event dates. According to Sky & Telescope, the remaining 2025 transit dates are July 2, July 18, August 3, August 19, September 4, September 20 and October 6 (local viewing times vary by location).

Early-season events last several hours, but the crossings shorten as the year goes on: by Oct. 6 the shadow is only visible briefly at the exact mid-transit moment. Observers should consult astronomy software and aim for clear skies on those dates, as any clouds or mist will obscure the subtle shadow.

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NASA’s Chandra Reveals Stunning Multi-Wavelength Image of Andromeda Galaxy

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June 30, 2025

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NASA’s Chandra Reveals Stunning Multi-Wavelength Image of Andromeda Galaxy

NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory provides a new look at the Andromeda galaxy in this multi-wavelength image that includes X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, infrared, and radio images and illustrates the “collaboration of light” across the spectrum. The structure and future fate of the Milky Way are modelled with the help of Andromeda, which is 2.5 million light years away. This combined image not only shows high-energy radiation from a supermassive black hole but also provides a clear view of the arms and core of M31 in remarkable detail. The light is transformed into a sound with a sonification video, bringing another level of sensation.

Chandra X-ray Data Reveals Black Hole Flares and Dark Matter Legacy in New View of Andromeda

As per NASA’s Chandra team, the X-ray observations — alongside data from ESA’s XMM-Newton, NASA’s GALEX and Spitzer, Planck, IRAS, COBE, Herschel, and more — reveal distinct galactic features. Notably, a flare detected in 2013 from Andromeda’s supermassive black hole showed enhanced X-ray emission. The data also honours astronomer Vera Rubin, whose M31 rotation studies led to the first convincing evidence for dark matter. Rubin is now commemorated on a 2025 U.S. quarter.

Among the release features is a signature sonification, with different categories of light — X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, infrared, and radio — translated into sound tones. Volume is controlled by brightness, pitch by frequency position. The result is a sound map of the galaxy’s internal structure.

The Chandra programme for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington is managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Centre in Huntsville, Alabama. Chandra’s overseer is the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

With this updated M31 panorama in hand, astronomers are in for a beautiful sight, but the broader population is also treated to a sight and sound experience that transports us to our Milky Way’s closest galactic neighbour.

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Could These Meteorites Be from Mercury? New Research Hints at Rare Discovery

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June 30, 2025

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Could These Meteorites Be from Mercury? New Research Hints at Rare Discovery

Scientists have observed whether the meteorites can reach Earth from Mercury. Over thousands of meteorites from Mars and the Moon have been observed, but none have been from Mercury, despite it being a nearby rocky planet. A new study revealed Icarus suggests two meteorites, Ksar Ghilane 022 and Northwest Africa 15915, could belong to Mercurian origin. Such a kind of meteorite can offer a realistic opportunity to study the material of the surface of the planet, if the technical challenges and the cost of sending a spacecraft to Mercury are met.

New Meteorite Samples Show Strong Similarities

As per the new studies reported to Physics.org , Meteorite NWA 7325 and aubrites in the past were considered to be possibly from Mercury. However, the mineral composition of their samples has inconsistencies with the known surface data from the Messenger mission of NASA. Aubrites formed on a planet similar in size to Mercury, lacking spectral and chemical similarities, and further weakened as Mercurian fragments.

Ksar Ghilane 022 and NWA 15915, the new samples, share many traits of Mercury crust, with olivine, oldhamite, pyroxene, and minor albitic plagioclase. The oxygen composition of these matched with the aubrites, signalling a similar planetary origin and putting them among strong Mercurian members.

Key Differences Raise Scientific Questions

There are key differences even after that, and the two meteorites contain very little plagioclase than on the Mercury surface, and are about 4,528 million years older than Mercury’s surface material. If they are from Mercury, there is a possibility that they can represent an ancient crust which is no longer visible on the planet.

Future Missions and Scientific Verification

Relating a meteorite to a particular planet is quite difficult without direct samples. BepiColombo missions are orbiting Mercury currently, and can offer valuable insights to confirm meteorites source. Mercurian meteorites can get valuable insights into the formation, composition and history of the planet. There are further findings to be presented at the Meteoritical Society Meeting 2025 in Australia.

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