NASA Confirms That Mysterious Object Approaching Earth Is Not An Asteroid

We already have a new chapter on the mysterious object approaching Earth. But first, let’s remember how it all started. Astronomers in September last year detected a strange object with a path towards Earth. Named 2020 SO, the space body is in an Earth-like orbit but one year and is ready to be captured by our planet’s gravity from the same and will remain until May 2021.

Astronomers call these “min moons” and only two have been confirmed in all of history. However, some experts have noted that the mysterious object moves much slower than an asteroid, so they have suggested that it may be of artificial origin. Until now, there were only sober theories of its origin, but finally faith was pronounced.

Our planet is ready for the arrival of a mysterious visiting space that must be removed by Earth’s gravity and transform into a mini-moon in the coming weeks. And NASA has already spoken: it says that instead of a cosmic rock, the newly discovered object appears to be an old rocket from a failed moon landing mission 54 years ago that finally returns home.

“I’m very excited about this,” Paul Chodas, director of NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies, told the Associated Press. “It’s a hobby for me to find one and make that connection, and I’ve been doing it for decades.”

Chodas speculates that asteroid 2020 SO, as it is officially called, is actually the upper stage of the Centaur rocket that successfully propelled NASA’s Surveyor 2 spacecraft to the moon in 1966 before being scrapped. . The lander ended up colliding with the moon after one of its thrusters failed to ignite in its path. During that time, the rocket passed the moon and circled the sun like space debris, never to be seen again, perhaps until now.

As we mentioned earlier, a telescope in Hawaii last month discovered the mysterious object heading our way while conducting research to protect our planet from doomsday rocks. The Faith object quickly added to the list of asteroids and comets found in our solar system by the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center.

The object is estimated to measure around 8 meters, depending on its brightness, which seems to coincide with the upper stage of the Centaur rocket, which would have been less than 10 meters long and 3 meters in diameter. But what caught Chodas’ attention was that its nearly circular orbit around the Sun is quite similar to Earth’s, unusual for an asteroid. The object is also in the same plane as the Earth, not tilted up or down. Asteroids tend to pass through strange angles quickly. Finally, the strange object approaches Earth at 2,400 km/h, slowly by asteroid standards.

As the object approaches, astronomers should be better able to track its orbit and determine how much radiation and the thermal effects of sunlight will push it. If it is an old Centaur, essentially a light, empty box, it will move differently than a heavy space rock that is less sensitive to external forces. This is how astronomers typically differentiate between asteroids and space debris as abandoned rocket parts, as both simply appear as moving dots in the sky.

“I could be wrong,” continues Chodas. “I don’t want to sound too confident. But this is the first time, in my opinion, that all the pieces have come together in a really well-known release.

Chodas predicts that the object will spend about four months circling the Earth, once captured in November, before returning to its own orbit around the Sun in March. Furthermore, he doubts the object will collide with Earth, “at least not this time.”

But not all experts agree with a theory proposed by NASA. Jonathan McDowell of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory pointed out that there were many embarrassing incidents of objects in deep orbit getting tentative asteroid designations for a few days before realizing they were man-made. “

What is the mystery object approaching Earth?

As we have seen, and although NASA has already decided, its origin is unknown so far, but all experts have ruled out that it is an asteroid. So there are several possibilities. The first is that it is space junk, but it is not as small as said and has a high probability of impact. If unfortunately the mysterious object ends up touching Earth, it would scatter a large amount of dust into the atmosphere. If it touches water, it would increase water vapor in the atmosphere. This would lead to increased protection, where that would lead to landslides. At the regional level, there can be earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis due to increased kinetic energy. If the stranger visiting from space to big enough, it can have a global impact.

And the second possibility is that it’s an alien probe. In this hypothetical case, while there are no government procedures (publicly available) to respond to “first contact”, it is not difficult to imagine what action they would take. Most likely, the population will be forced to stay in their homes or the nearest shelters and wait for new orders. Instructions and news broadcast on TV, radio and also on social networks. After the precautionary measures, the next step would be to assess the threat and organize a joint response with all countries.

Leaving aside theories about the mysterious space object, what seems pretentious is that NASA has claimed that by its size it corresponds to the upper stage of the Centaur rocket, without even having seen it, or at least that’s what it says publicly. We are also impressed that information of this magnitude has gone unnoticed in the mainstream media. We are talking about a space object of unknown origin that is approaching Earth. We can only hope that the events are cancelled.