2021 QM1, an asteroid predicted to hit Earth on April 2, 2052, has been removed from global danger lists. This relief revelation comes from a skillful observation by the European Southern Observatory, one of the most advanced astronomical observatories in the world.
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The discovery of 2021 QM1 on August 28, 2021, from the Mount Lemmon Observatory, north of Tucson, Arizona, was initially innocuous—after all, about a dozen new near-Earth asteroids are discovered every night. However, routine follow-up observations from telescopes around the world slowly began to reveal a very significant threat.
Richear Moissl, head of Planetary Defence at the European Space Agency (ESA), said: "These early observations gave us more information about the asteroid's path, which we then projected into the future.".
"We could see its future paths around the Sun , and in 2052 it could close to Earth. The more the asteroid was observed, the greater this danger."
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2021 QM1 continued to gain the lead on ESA's hazard list as data increased, an unusual occurrence as, generally, data shrinks uncertainties, proving that asteroids are ultimately safe.
However, as the danger continued to mount and the need for information about the asteroid increased, an unfortunate cosmic alignment. As the asteroid's path brought it closer to the Sun, solar flares made the asteroid impossible to detect. As 2021 QM1's orbit brought it further away from Earth, ESA astronomers feared that, between the glare of the Sun and the asteroid's orbit, the asteroid would be too faint to image and it would be impossible to record new data.
As a result, on the night of May 24, astronomers knew full well that they had a very short window to observe one of humanity’s greatest threats. To make matters worse, 2021 QM1 passed through a region of the sky backlit by the Milky Way. Essentially, the VLT was tasked with spotting a faint and faint asteroid against the backdrop of the second largest galaxy in the Local Group.
“These will prove to be some of the most difficult asteroid observations we have ever made,” explained Olivier Hainaut, a veteran astronomer at ESO.
However, the result of the images on May 24 was positive — a clear detection of the faintest asteroid observed . Indeed, 2021 QM1 was 250 million times fainter than the faintest stars visible to the naked eye in a dark spot. The data from the VLT was sufficient to refine the asteroid's trajectory and eliminate the possibility of an impact in 2052.
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"We can safely say that the most dangerous asteroid humanity has encountered in the last year will not hit Earth – at least not for the next century," the ESA said.
More than a million asteroids have been discovered within the solar system, and nearly 3,000 of them pass close to Earth. Although the threat of 2021 QM1 is no longer in sight, ever-increasingly powerful telescopes may discover an impending collision in the distant future.
Information source: zdnet.com
