Early one Thursday morning, the Al Khatim Astronomical Observatory in the Abu Dhabi desert spotted something big in the sky — an asteroid named FA22. They photographed it about seven hours before it flew safely past Earth. The observatory was part of a worldwide group of scientists keeping watch for space rocks that come close to our planet.
The asteroid FA22 is about 200 metres wide — roughly the length of two soccer fields. It was first discovered on March 29.
It passed by Earth at 07:41 UTC (universal time). At its closest, FA22 came within 826,000 kilometres from Earth — about twice as far as the Moon. Scientists confirmed there was no danger.
The observatory tracked FA22 at 04:40 AM UAE time. They measured its movement across the sky and found it was moving quickly — about 2.5 arcminutes per minute. That’s like watching something the size of the Moon cross the sky in just 12 minutes!
Engineer Mohammad Shawkat Odeh, the observatory’s director, said it’s important for the UAE to join global programs that watch the skies. This teamwork helps people everywhere stay prepared in case a space rock ever comes too close.
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By Abdulla Rasheed. Original content published by Gulf News.