2018 CN41 was declared an asteroid. But just two days later, the Minor Planet Center had to admit that it was the famous Tesla Roadster, which was sent into space in 2018.
A Tesla Roadster in space was mistakenly identified as an asteroid by astronomers in January. The object, named 2018 CN41, was observed from a telescope in Italy and reported to the Minor Planet Center.
This is what USA Today writes.
However, it quickly turned out that the "asteroid" was actually the famous Tesla Roadster, launched into space by Elon Musk and SpaceX in 2018. "The next day, they announced that the asteroid would be deleted. It turned out to be a cherry-root Tesla Roadster," writes USA Today.
The astronomers explained the error: "The orbit matches an artificial object, 2018-017A, the Falcon Heavy Upper stage with the Tesla Roadster. The designation 2018 CN41 will be removed and will be listed as omitted."
The Tesla, with a spacesuited dummy called Starman behind the wheel, was launched into space during a test of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket. Both the Tesla and parts of the rocket are still orbiting Earth.
