Asteroid 2023 BU to pass Earth in one of the closest approaches ever recorded

This orbital diagram from Nasa shows 2023 BU’s trajectory — in red — during its close approach with Earth on January 26, 2023. The asteroid will pass about 10 times closer to Earth than the orbit of geosynchronous satellites, shown in the green line

(Picture: Nasa/JPL-Caltech)

An asteroid around the size of a small lorry will pass Earth in one of the closest such encounters ever recorded.

Nasa said asteroid 2023 BU would come within a tenth of the distance of most communication satellites’ orbit at 7.27pm US eastern time on Thursday (12.37am GMT on Friday).