Asteroid 2023 BU close approach to Earth on January 26th

The newly discovered asteroid 2023 BU, observed for the 1st time by  Gennadiy Borisov a couple of days ago, will have a safe and close approach to Earth on January 26th, at 23:56 UTC. I’ve just done a Horizon query for confirmation.

Asteroid’s diameter should be in a range of 4 to 9 mt. and its speed with respect to Earth is about 8 Km/s. No danger for Earth’s inhabitants but the distance is lesser than geostationary orbits of many satellites (30000-35000 Km).

Center to center least distance evaluated by Horizons is 0.00009379414178 UA, that is 14031 Km. We have to subtract the Earth radius (6378 Km) to obtain the minimum approximate distance from our planet’s surface, 7600 Km.

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JPL/HORIZONS                      (2023 BU)                2023-Jan-23 12:34:44
Rec #:50644526 (+COV) Soln.date: 2023-Jan-23_05:30:52        # obs: 30 (2 days)
 
IAU76/J2000 helio. ecliptic osc. elements (au, days, deg., period=Julian yrs):
 
  EPOCH=  2459966.5 ! 2023-Jan-22.00 (TDB)         Residual RMS= .41587
   EC= .06705378261031335  QR= .9202175551592298   TP= 2460056.3394871554
   OM= 306.7023024315471   W=  272.790777337173    IN= 2.458343567481403
   A= .9863564887308609    MA= 269.6099806998312   ADIST= 1.052495422302492
   PER= .97962             N= 1.006127953          ANGMOM= .017045897
   DAN= .97873             DDN= .98514             L= 219.4956465
   B= -2.4554262           MOID= .00019054         TP= 2023-Apr-21.8394871554
 
Asteroid physical parameters (km, seconds, rotational period in hours):
   GM= n.a.                RAD= n.a.               ROTPER= n.a.
   H= 29.215               G= .150                 B-V= n.a.
                           ALBEDO= n.a.            STYP= n.a.
 
ASTEROID comments: 
1: soln ref.= JPL#2, OCC=6
2: source=ORB
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Ephemeris / WWW_USER Mon Jan 23 12:34:45 2023 Pasadena, USA      / Horizons    
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Target body name: (2023 BU)                       {source: JPL#2}
Center body name: Earth (399)                     {source: DE441}
Center-site name: (user defined site below)
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Start time      : A.D. 2023-Jan-26 23:00:00.0000 UT      
Stop  time      : A.D. 2023-Jan-27 01:00:00.0000 UT      
Step-size       : 1 minutes
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Target pole/equ : No model available
Target radii    : (unavailable)                                                
Center geodetic : 12.6167000,41.8667000,1.014E-12 {E-lon(deg),Lat(deg),Alt(km)}
Center cylindric: 12.6167000,4756.89324,4234.5894 {E-lon(deg),Dxy(km),Dz(km)}
Center pole/equ : ITRF93                          {East-longitude positive}
Center radii    : 6378.1 x 6378.1 x 6356.8 km     {Equator, meridian, pole}    
Target primary  : Sun (R_eq= 696000.000) km
Vis. interferer : MOON (R_eq= 1737.400) km        {source: DE441}
Rel. light bend : Sun                             {source: DE441}
Rel. lght bnd GM: 1.3271E+11 km^3/s^2                                          
Small-body perts: Yes                             {source: SB441-N16}
Atmos refraction: NO (AIRLESS)
RA format       : HMS
Time format     : CAL 
RTS-only print  : NO       
EOP file        : eop.230120.p230414                                           
EOP coverage    : DATA-BASED 1962-JAN-20 TO 2023-JAN-20. PREDICTS-> 2023-APR-13
Units conversion: 1 au= 149597870.700 km, c= 299792.458 km/s, 1 day= 86400.0 s 
Table cut-offs 1: Elevation (-90.0deg=NO ),Airmass (>38.000=NO), Daylight (NO )
Table cut-offs 2: Solar elongation (  0.0,180.0=NO ),Local Hour Angle( 0.0=NO )
Table cut-offs 3: RA/DEC angular rate (     0.0=NO )                           
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Initial IAU76/J2000 heliocentric ecliptic osculating elements (au, days, deg.):
  EPOCH=  2459966.5 ! 2023-Jan-22.00 (TDB)         Residual RMS= .41587        
   EC= .06705378261031335  QR= .9202175551592298   TP= 2460056.3394871554      
   OM= 306.7023024315471   W=  272.790777337173    IN= 2.458343567481403       
  Equivalent ICRF heliocentric cartesian coordinates (au, au/d):
   X=-5.171937946033230E-01  Y= 7.742646323463939E-01  Z= 3.399295762038308E-01
  VX=-1.405701873560648E-02 VY=-8.830808153728322E-03 VZ=-4.634143805486034E-03
Asteroid physical parameters (km, seconds, rotational period in hours):        
   GM= n.a.                RAD= n.a.               ROTPER= n.a.                
   H= 29.215               G= .150                 B-V= n.a.                   
                           ALBEDO= n.a.            STYP= n.a.                  
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 Date__(UT)__HR:MN     R.A._________(ICRF)_________DEC  R.A.___(airless-apparent)___DEC    APmag   S-brt             delta       VmagSn      VmagOb
***************************************************************************************************************************************************
$$SOE

 2023-Jan-26 23:56     03 19 09.044289 -43 52 36.02648  03 19 57.767343 -43 47 52.26478   12.447    n.a.  0.00009379414178   33.0598080   8.2025656

$$EOE
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