Astronomers recently misidentified a Tesla Roadster launched into space in 2018 as an asteroid, prompting the deletion of its registry.
A curious incident unfolded earlier this month when astronomers mistakenly identified a Tesla Roadster, launched into orbit by SpaceX in 2018, as an asteroid. This mix-up led to the deletion of the object’s registry shortly after its initial registration.
The confusion arose when astronomers from the Minor Planet Center at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Massachusetts registered the object as 2018 CN41. However, just a day later, on January 3, they retracted the designation, clarifying that the object was, in fact, Elon Musk’s iconic Tesla Roadster.
According to the Minor Planet Center’s website, the registry for 2018 CN41 was deleted after it was determined that the object’s orbit matched that of an artificial object, specifically the Falcon Heavy upper stage that carried the Tesla Roadster into space. The center stated, “The designation 2018 CN41 is being deleted and will be listed as omitted.”
The Tesla Roadster was launched during the maiden flight of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket in February 2018. Originally, the vehicle was intended to enter an elliptical orbit around the sun, extending slightly beyond Mars before returning toward Earth. However, it appears to have exceeded Mars’ orbit and continued on toward the asteroid belt, as Musk noted at the time.
When the Roadster was misidentified as an asteroid, it was located less than 150,000 miles from Earth—closer than the moon’s orbit. This proximity raised concerns among astronomers, who expressed the need to monitor its trajectory as it approaches Earth.
Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell from the Center for Astrophysics (CfA) commented on the implications of this mistake, highlighting the challenges posed by untracked objects in space. “Worst case, you spend a billion launching a space probe to study an asteroid and only realize it’s not an asteroid when you get there,” he remarked, underscoring the potential risks involved in space exploration.
As the situation unfolds, Fox News Digital has reached out to SpaceX for further comment regarding the incident.
Source: Original article