Where Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster is now after it was launched into space and caused amateur astronomer to panic - supercarblondie.com

What the report says

Supercar Blondie reported that Elon Musk’s cherry-red Tesla Roadster, launched by SpaceX in 2018 on the first Falcon Heavy test flight, recently drew renewed attention after an amateur astronomer mistook it for a possible near-Earth object. The car, carrying the mannequin “Starman,” was sent into a heliocentric orbit rather than using the usual dummy payload of metal or concrete for a rocket test.

According to the report, the confusion began when an amateur astronomer in Turkey observed a small moving point in the sky and it was temporarily logged by the Minor Planet Center at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Because the object was reported at less than 150,000 miles from Earth, it met criteria for monitoring as a near-Earth object. Within about 17 hours, astronomers determined it was not an asteroid but Musk’s Roadster, and the designation was removed.

The article cites astronomer Jonathan McDowell as explaining to Smithsonian magazine that artificial objects and natural rocks can look alike through telescopes until further checks are made. Ben Pearson, who runs the tracking site whereisroadster.com, told Supercar Blondie that similar mix-ups happen with old boosters and spacecraft because asteroid tracking involves uncertainty.

Supercar Blondie said that, at the time of its article, the Roadster was more than 81.7 million miles from Earth and moving toward the planet at about 14,226 mph, based on whereisroadster.com. The report notes that while a future Earth encounter is theoretically possible over very long timescales, the vehicle would be expected to burn up in the atmosphere and not pose a ground threat.