At the start of this year, an amateur astronomer in Turkey thought he had discovered something in space that put our planet in immediate danger – turns out it was Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster.
The object appeared to be moving fast, too fast, and its orbit suggested it could pass even closer than the Moon.
The Minor Planet Center even categorized this mistaken asteroid and gave it a name.
But it wasn’t a new asteroid at all – it was Elon Musk’s cherry-red Tesla Roadster, still cruising through space nearly seven years after its launch.
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Amateur astronomer thought our planet was in immediate danger
A Turkish amateur astronomer had the fright of their life after seeing an object in space that was hurtling dangerously close to Earth and assumed it was a rogue asteroid.
The sighting was reported to the Minor Planet Center, which briefly catalogued it as a potential near-Earth object named ‘2018 CN41’.
With its trajectory showing a pass about 240,000 kilometres from Earth, there was real concern it might be on a collision path.
SpaceX
Within hours, however, astronomers realised the orbit matched something familiar, the Tesla Roadster launched aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket in 2018.
The car, complete with its ‘Starman’ mannequin in the driver’s seat, had simply made another close pass by Earth.
After confirming its identity, the supposed asteroid was removed from the official list, and the near-miss fears quickly faded.
Still, the confusion served as a funny yet sobering reminder of how human-made objects can easily be mistaken for natural ones, especially as more space debris clutters near-Earth orbits.
SpaceX
This Tesla Roadster is space junk
When the Tesla CEO sent his personal Roadster into space, it was meant as a bold demonstration of SpaceX’s launch power mixed with a little bit of showmanship.
But its unexpected reappearance at the start of this year proved that even a marketing stunt can cause a ripple in the world of space science.
Wikicommons
For astronomers, it’s a wake-up call about how much man-made material is out there and how much ‘space junk’ is cluttering up the universe.
Maybe it’s time for a space junk clean-up mission?
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