Appointment with the Starry Sky｜Look! The first "star" of 2022

This article is reproduced from Xinhua News Agency

The reporter learned from the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences that the observatory's near-Earth object telescope recently discovered a near-Earth asteroid flying towards the Earth.

The International Asteroid Center has numbered it as 2022 AA, and it is expected to fly past the Earth on February 4. This is also the first near-Earth asteroid discovered worldwide in 2022.

Zhao Haibin, chief scientist of the Near-Earth Object Telescope Group of Purple Mountain Observatory, introduced that the asteroid was discovered by the Near-Earth Object Telescope at around 21:33 on the 1st.

After receiving the report, the International Astronomical Union numbered this "new star" as 2022 AA.

2022 AA is a near-Earth asteroid in an Apollo-type orbit, with a diameter of about 43 meters, nearly half the size of a standard football field. Its minimum orbital rendezvous distance with the Earth is about 341,000 kilometers, which is less than the distance between the Earth and the Moon. Observation stations in many countries, including the United States and Chile, have also tracked and observed 2022 AA.

According to the numbering rules of the International Astronomical Center, "2022" represents the year of discovery of the asteroid, the first letter "A" after it represents the time of discovery in the first half of January, and the second "A" indicates that it is the first asteroid discovered during this period. Therefore, the number "2022 AA" indicates that this is the first near-Earth asteroid discovered by humans in 2022.

"2022 AA is currently approaching the Earth. According to calculations, it will reach perigee on February 4 and will fly past at a distance of 2.55 million kilometers, posing no danger," said Zhao Haibin.

Producer: Hu Qinghai

Planning: Liu Xinhui

Reporter: Wang Jueyin

Poster production: Xu Zhan

Editors: Chong Dahai, Xiong Lin

Produced jointly by Xinhua News Agency Domestic Department and Xinhua News Agency Jiangsu Branch

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