The mystery is finally over – the space object captured by Earth’s orbit is actually a rocket booster from the 1960s, NASA Confident.
On Wednesday, the state-run space agency said the so-called “2020 SO” was not an object Asteroid, Rather than part of a Centaur rocket booster from the Surveyor 2 spacecraft, launched towards நிலா In 1966.
“Due to the extreme dizziness of this substance [Center for Near-Earth Object Studies] Forecasting is a challenging subject, ”said Vishnu Reddy, an associate professor and planetary scientist at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. Report. “Color observations were obtained with the large telescope or LPD, which suggested that the 2020 SO was not an asteroid.”
This 1964 photo shows a centaur top-level rocket before being attached to the Atlas booster. A similar centaur was used when “Surveyor 2” was launched two years later. Credit: NASA
The mysterious purpose of the 1960s rocket boost that flies over the earth today: how to see it
“This decision is the result of a tremendous team effort,” Reddy added. We were able to solve this mystery thanks to the excellent work of Bon-Stars, Paul Sodas and CNEOS, LPD, and the team. [Infrared Telescope Facility], And worldwide observations. ”
On Tuesday, the rocket booster formed its closest brush with Earth, when it landed within 50,000 kilometers (31,000 miles) of the planet. According to To Gianluca Masik, the founder of the virtual telescope project.
NASA has released a video of 2020 SO orbits around the Earth.
Unfortunately, Surveyor 2 never completed its journey and crashed into the lunar surface on September 23, 1966. However, NASA has previously said that the Centaur booster “traveled across the moon and disappeared into orbit unknown to the sun”.
The rocket booster was initially discovered by the Bon-Stars survey on September 17, 2020 and announced two days later.
Earth “moved slowly” in early 2020 SO Mountain sphere On November 8, 2020, it will be there for about four months before orbiting the sun again in March 2021.
