Another close call is headed our way, as a newly-discovered asteroid the size of a city block will fly by Earth on Thursday, and you just might be able to watch it happen live.
Asteroid 2012 LZ1, which astronomers believe is about 1,650 feet wide, will come within 14 lunar distances of Earth Thursday evening.
There’s no danger of an impact, but the space rock might come close enough to be seen on camera.
The Slooh Space Camera will aim their telescope located on the Canary Islands at Asteroid 2012 LZ1 and stream the footage live, beginning at 8:00 p.m. EDT Thursday (0000 GMT Friday).
You can watch the asteroid flyby on Slooh’s website at http://events.slooh.com/.
Asteroid 2012 LZ1 was just discovered on the night of June 10-11 by Rob McNaught and his colleagues, who were using the Uppsala Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring Observatory in Australia.
Scientists think the rock is about 1,000 to 2,300 feet wide. On Thursday evening, it will come within approximately 3.35 million miles of our planet, or about 14 times the distance between Earth and the moon.
Due to its size and close proximity, 2012 LZ1 qualifies as a potentially hazardous asteroid. Near-Earth asteroids generally have to be at least 500 feet wide and come within 4.65 million miles of our little blue planet to be considered hazardous.
Asteroid 2012 LZ1 is roughly the same size as asteroid 2005 YU55, which made a much-anticipated flyby of Earth last November – but 2005 YU55 was a much closer call, coming within 202,000 miles of Earth on November 8.
Related articles
- Huge Asteroid to Fly by Earth Thursday: How to Watch Online (space.com)
- Huge Asteroid to Fly by Earth Thursday (sott.net)
- Big and Bright Asteroid to Pass by Earth June 14 (universetoday.com)
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