Amateur Astronomer Spots Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster, Sparking Brief Panic
▼ Summary
– An amateur astronomer in Turkey mistook Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster for a new asteroid, temporarily designating it as 2018 CN41.
– The astronomer’s error occurred because he cross-referenced the object via a catalog that did not include the Roadster as an artificial satellite.
– The Tesla Roadster was launched into space in 2018 as a dummy payload on SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy test flight, with a mannequin named Starman inside.
– The car is currently about 84 million miles from Earth, moving toward it at over 35,000 mph, but poses no danger.
– Scientists estimate a 6 percent chance of the Roadster colliding with Earth in the next million years, and it would vaporize upon atmospheric entry.
An amateur astronomer in Turkey briefly sent the space community into a state of alarm after mistaking a familiar object for a newly discovered asteroid. The object in question was none other than Elon Musk’s cherry-red Tesla Roadster, which has been orbiting the Sun since its launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in February 2018.
That launch was largely a marketing spectacle, using Musk’s personal electric vehicle as a dummy payload with a spacesuit-clad mannequin named Starman behind the wheel. Since then, the Roadster has traveled a looping heliocentric orbit, crossing the paths of Earth and Mars. Several tracking websites, most notably Whereisroadster.com, monitor its position in real time. As of now, the car sits roughly 84 million miles from Earth, moving at speeds exceeding 35,000 mph and gradually heading back toward our planet.
The confusion began when the Turkish observer spotted a tiny dot in the night sky. Without access to a satellite catalog that included the Roadster, he logged the sighting as a potential new near-Earth asteroid. The Minor Planet Center even gave it a temporary designation: 2018 CN41. But Peter Veres, an astrophysicist at the Minor Planet Center, quickly clarified the situation. Speaking to Smithsonian Magazine, Veres explained that the astronomer had cross-referenced the object against a list of artificial satellites that simply did not list the Tesla, leading to the false alarm.
This incident underscores a growing challenge in modern astronomy. The sky is cluttered with human-made objects, including thousands of Starlink satellites from SpaceX itself. For amateur astronomers, distinguishing a distant car from a rocky asteroid is nearly impossible without proper reference data.
Could the Roadster eventually collide with Earth? In theory, yes, but not for an extremely long time. Scientists estimate a roughly 6 percent chance of impact within the next million years, and a 22 to 50 percent chance over tens of millions of years. Even if it did re-enter our atmosphere, the vehicle would almost completely vaporize, posing no threat to anyone on the ground.
For now, the Tesla continues its silent journey through deep space, occasionally reminding us that even a marketing stunt can cause a moment of cosmic confusion.
(Source: Supercarblondie.com)
