Asteroid 16 Psyche worth more than Earth's economy will be the closest to the planet today

Hubble Space Telescope has revealed that about 370 million kilometres away from Earth is one of the most valuable asteroids in our solar system called 16 Psyche. Studies have found that it is a giant asteroid survivor of a failed planet, and is worth $10,000 quadrillion. That’s more than the entire economy of our planet.

The asteroid has been slowly rusting in space and is now aligned with the earth and the sun.  Today, it would make its closest approach to Earth and reach its brightest in the night sky. One can view it from a telescope as it will be visible all night long in the sky.

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16 Psyche asteroid will be closest to earth today

According to a paper published in The Planetary Science Journal by Tracy M Becker and her team, here is all that we know about the asteroid: The asteroid is called Psyche and reportedly, it is the target of the NASA Discovery Mission Psyche, which is expected to launch in 2022. According to the studies, the asteroid will get within 1.6 astronomical units of earth.

Promo Image credits: iopscience.iop.org 

Reportedly, Psyche revolves around the Sun in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The asteroid is considered as one of the most massive objects that our solar system has aside from the planets. The composition of 16 Psyche is extremely dense and metallic and is made of iron and nickel, according to the research paper.

According to the reports, the 16 Psyche could be a “protoplanet” and could have been a planet itself, which did not get to maturity. Dr. Tracy Becker in the paper reveals, “Opposition means that it's going to be the furthest point away from the Sun. The opposition is the best time to study something, especially in (visible) ultraviolet light, because it’s really dark and there's no kind of glow in Earth’s atmosphere from the sunlight”. Reportedly, the asteroid is very large and very bright compared to other asteroids, however it shall not be visible to the naked eye visibility.

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About the composition of the asteroid, Dr Tracy Becker states that they do not know if it is a pure core leftover from a planetesimal that formed and then got destroyed. She further stated, “That's what makes it interesting because when we get there we're going to find out what is going on.” 

Reportedly, there is a launch scheduled on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in August 2022. It is under NASA Psyche mission that will arrive at the asteroid in January 2026. It is a 21-month mission that will be to map 16 Psyche.

Image credits: NASA/JPL-CALTECH/ASU

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