Tag Archives: Earth

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China wants to defend the Earth from asteroids using the moon

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China’s “Planetary Defense System” has been catching momentum recently, with Beijing researchers now planning to utilize the moon to protect Earth from asteroid strikes that could potentially wipe out a city or human civilization, according to scientists involved in the project.

Two optical telescopes would be built on the moon’s south and north poles to survey the space around them for any threats that may have slipped through the ground-based early warning network, especially those approaching from the blind side facing the sun.

The new project entails putting three guardian satellites carrying loads of fuel and kinetic weapons into the moon’s orbit around the Earth, Wu Weiren, chief designer of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, said in a paper published in the Chinese peer-reviewed journal Scientia Sinica Informationis.

According to the planned project, when the system detects a celestial body with the potential to cause severe damage, it sends one or all of the guardian satellites to intercept the asteroid within a short timeframe, as short as a week, faster than what any large rocket launched from Earth could achieve, according to the team.

“It will have the ability to intercept incoming asteroids from all directions, and can form a defense circle about twice the distance between the moon and Earth – about 800,000km in diameter,” Wu and his colleagues said.

“It will have the ability to intercept incoming asteroids from all directions, and can form a defense circle about twice the distance between the moon and Earth – about 800,000km in diameter.”

Wu and his research team

China’s currently developing Earth Defense System consists of giant radars and telescopes in an attempt to manage an extinction event such as the one that wiped out the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago.

Planetary surveillance

But before breaking ground on the moon, China would first launch satellites into the moon’s orbit to test their latest surveillance, tracking and interception technologies.

These satellites could, potentially, be used to defend China’s national security by having the telescopes and sensors pointed toward the Earth, the researchers suggested.

They “have the ability to monitor the geosynchronous orbit,” a high-altitude belt hosting many communications and military satellites, they said in the paper.

The Earth-defending satellites could help China keep a close eye on other countries’ satellites “and improve the ability to protect high-value space assets”.

A growing space power

China has become a growing space power, putting ever-increasing effort in recent years to improve its capabilities in space. So far, China has launched new satellites, landed probes on the moon and explored its dark side, and even constructed its own space station.

Nasa administrator Bill Nelson said earlier this month he was concerned about the possibility China would take over the moon, though Beijing has denied this and dismissed these claims.



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Leading space science expert predicts a ‘direct hit’ on Earth from a solar storm

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It has been a busy time for solar activity. Back in March of 2022, Earth was hit by separate geomagnetic storms, according to government weather agencies in the U.S. and the U.K. 

Though the geomagnetic storms likely didn’t cause any harm, they brought into focus the potential harm that could come from more powerful storms in the future.

Then earlier this month, a G1-class geomagnetic storm hit the Earth, causing bright auroras over Canada. The only problem is that nobody saw this storm coming until it was quite late. 

Five days ago, a giant sunspot and filaments on the solar surface had astronomers worried about possible Earth-directed solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that could lead to blackouts.

Finally, on Friday, it was reported that a massive solar flare had erupted from the Sun, which could see radio blackouts in many parts of the world.

A “direct hit” from a solar storm

Now, on Saturday, Dr. Tamitha Skov, known as the “Space Weather Woman,” predicted a “direct hit” from a solar storm to take place on Tuesday. She took to social media to share the news along with a NASA prediction model video.

Skov is a research scientist at the federally funded Aerospace Corporation and an award-winning science educator on social media.

“Direct Hit!” she wrote on Twitter. “A snake-like filament launched as a big solar storm while in the Earth-strike zone.”

“NASA predicts impact early July 19. Strong Aurora shows possible with this one, deep into mid-latitudes,” she explained, adding that there could be disruption to GPS and amateur radio.

G2 level conditions

Her worrisome tweet was followed by another post accompanied by a video of the Sun.

“The long snake-like filament cartwheeled its way off the Sun in a stunning ballet,” the science educator wrote explaining the video.

“The magnetic orientation of this Earth-directed solar storm is going to be tough to predict. G2-level (possibly G3) conditions may occur if the magnetic field of this storm is oriented southward!” she further noted.

With the Sun now in an active phase of its 11-year solar cycle, incidents such as these are expected to increase. The question now becomes: how harmful are they really? Typically, they can cause significant blackouts to GPS navigation systems, which could end up disrupting journeys for small aircraft and ships. Other than that, however, there is not much to worry about.



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Solar storm alert! Massive solar flare heading towards Earth, threatens blackouts

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A massive solar flare escaped from the Sun towards the Earth! NOAA has warned about possible radio blackouts as a consequence of resultant solar storm in the coming days.

A massive solar flare has escaped from the Sun! This solar flare terror is expected to hit Earth soon. This may lead to a powerful solar storm that may well be strong enough to cause radio blackouts here. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has raised an alert about. This solar flare burst from the surface of the Sun on July 14 and it was directed towards Earth. Space weather expert Dr. Tamitha Skov has posted her reaction on Twitter about this solar flare unleashed from the Sun. So, what are solar flares? Well, NASA says, “Solar flares are an intense burst of radiation coming from the release of magnetic energy associated with sunspots. Solar flares are our solar system’s largest explosive events. They are seen as bright areas on the sun and they can last from minutes to hours.” She also warns, “…blackout to occur on July 18.”

Tamitha Skov posted this on Twitter: “New region 3058 fires a M2.9-flare! It is now the fourth region on the Sun with the X-factor. NOAA sets X-flare risk at 10% but that could rise soon.” What does an X-class flare mean? The X-factor for the solar flare denotes one of the most intense flares. And the number along with the intensity symbol of the solar flare denotes its strength. The solar flares are classified into four classes – A, B, C, M, and X, based on their intensity. So, the most powerful solar flare would be an X-classified solar flare while M denotes the second most powerful solar flare. 

Impact of Solar flares on Earth 

Dr Skov further added that “More radio blackouts impact amateur radio operations on Earth’s dayside are likely. GPS users stay vigilant near dawn and dusk.” This means the solar storm is expected to cause significant blackouts to GPS navigation systems on Earth. That means it is capable of disrupting journeys for small aircraft as well as ships.

However, NOAA mentioned in its latest report, “A slight chance for S1 (Minor) solar radiation storms will be present 17-18 July mainly due to the favorable location of active regions 3053 and 3055, as well as growth noted in region 3056.” NOAA confirmed that Radio blackouts reaching the R1 levels were observed over the past 24 hours. One of the largest was on July 16 2022 at 15:39 UTC. This even further poses risk to the Earth with a chance for minor to a moderate level or even a slight chance for an R3, which is strong in nature, blackout to occur on July 18 while observing the current active regions on the solar disk.

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NASA says a humongous building-sized asteroid heading for Earth today

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A giant asteroid is on the way to Earth today, NASA confirmed. Does it pose any risk to our planet? Know here.

A day after an aiplane-sized asteroid hurtled very close to our planet, there is a new terror on way. Yes, NASA says an asteroid today will get extremely close to Earth. In fact, quite a few asteroids are flying in space and heading towards Earth. NASA warned about this humongous asteroid which is as big as a 50-storey skyscraper or almost double the size of the Statue of Liberty. The asteroid will make its closest approach to Earth today. NASA confirmed that the asteroid will pass near Earth on July 17. This mammoth space rock known as 2022 KY4. Astronomers’ eyes are on this asteroid to make sure there is no deviation in its path that may bring it even closer to Earth, or even crash into it.

These giant rocks in space, known as asteroids generally travel around the Sun, but can even change their paths due to the gravitational force of planets and sometimes even collide with them! So does this asteroid pose any risk to the Earth?

Will this Asteroid pose any risk to Earth?

Thankfully, this asteroid will miss Earth, but not by a large margin! According to NASA, this asteroid will get as close to the Earth as about 3.8 million miles or 6.1 million kilometres. For better understanding, know that this is more than 16 times the average distance between Earth and the moon. Well, this is still a larger distance than asteroid 2022 NF, which passed near the Earth on July 7 within just 56,000 miles, around 23 percent of the average distance between Earth and the moon.

Well, how big is this asteroid? NASA says that asteroid 2022 KY4 is around 290 feet or 88 meters in diameter and is travelling at an estimated speed of 16,900 mph. For reference, the Statue of Liberty in London is 151 feet tall. That means, this massive asteroid is even much bigger than the Statue of Liberty! NASA mentioned that this is not the first time when this space rock will make its closest approach towards the Earth. Earlier, asteroid 2022 KY4 made its nearest approaches to our planet, last in 1959 and 1948. According to the pattern, it will not make another close approach to our planet until May 2048.

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A powerful solar flare is heading towards Earth, and radio blackouts are possible

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A massive solar flare has erupted from the Sun, which could see radio blackouts in many parts of the world, a space weather physicist has tweeted.

With the Sun now in an active phase of its 11-year solar cycle, incidents such as these are expected to increase. Earlier this week, astronomers were on the lookout for activity arising out of sunspot AR3038. However, it is a new region AR3058 that erupted early and carries a risk of X-class flare.

How bad can solar flares be?

Solar flares are strong localized electromagnetic eruptions on the surface of the sun. Depending on the strength of the eruption, solar flares are classified into classes, A, B, C, M, and X, with A being the least powerful while X being the most powerful.

When these flares erupt, packed within them are intense bursts of energy and radiation that would have been harmful to the Earth’s inhabitants if not for the envelope of the atmosphere that surrounds us. However, the high amounts of energy transferred to the atmosphere during this interaction with the flare ionize the upper layers of the atmosphere, which is used for radio communication leading to a loss of signal.

The recent flare is directed towards the Earth and is expected to cause significant blackouts to GPS navigation systems, which could end up disrupting journeys for small aircraft and ships. Ham radio or amateur radio operators will face some disruptions due to this solar flare, which has a 10 percent chance of being an X-class solar event. Astronomers are not yet sure if the flare was also accompanied by a coronal mass ejection (CME), which could result in a geomagnetic storm in a couple of days.

Memories of Bastille Day

The timing of the solar flare brings back memories of another solar flare that erupted on July 14, 2000, and is remembered as the Bastille Day event since it coincided with France’s national day.

The CME that accompanied this solar flare was received a day later and saw auroras flash in the night sky in the U.S., whereas, in some areas, it appeared as if the sky was on fire, a report for Spaceweatherarchive.com said. By the time the geomagnetic storm subsided, auroras had been seen in Texas, Florida, and Mexico.

The event is also special for astronomers as it was the first major event after the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) was launched, and researchers caught a glimpse from up close as to what really happens on the solar surface during a solar flare.

The event is studied to date by astronomers who have estimated that it carried 1033 ergs of magnetic energy, the equivalent of a thousand billion atomic bombs used during World War II.

The impact of the flares was observed even by the Voyager spacecraft as they continued on their journeys far away from the Sun.

With the Sun now slowly approaching the peak of its solar cycle, could we witness another Bastille Day event? Only time will tell.



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Strong bursts of energy that repeat like a heartbeat are detected billions of light-years from Earth

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A mysterious object billions of light-years from Earth is shooting out strong bursts of energy in a pattern that is similar to a heartbeat.

A team of Astronomers, led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), picked up what is formally known as fast radio bursts (FRB), which are intense radio waves that typically last for a few milliseconds.

The newly detected FRB, however, persists for up to three seconds – about 1,000 times longer than the average.

The signal, labeled FRB 20191221A, is currently the longest-lasting FRB, with the clearest periodic pattern, detected to date.

Although the researchers are unsure about the source, they suspect the signal stems from a a radio pulsar or a magnetar, both of which are types of neutron stars — extremely dense, rapidly spinning collapsed cores of giant stars.

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The discovery of FRB 20191221A was made by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) telescope (pictured). This FRB persists for up to three seconds – about 1,000 times longer than the average

The first FRB was detected in 2007, sparking a hunt to find the source and hopefully uncover secrets about the space between galaxies by studying the signal’s path.

Daniele Michilli, a postdoc in MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, said in a statement: ‘There are not many things in the universe that emit strictly periodic signals.

‘Examples that we know of in our own galaxy are radio pulsars and magnetars, which rotate and produce a beamed emission similar to a lighthouse. 

‘And we think this new signal could be a magnetar or pulsar on steroids.’

The signal, labeled FRB 20191221A, is currently the longest-lasting FRB, with the clearest periodic pattern, detected to date (stock photo)

Fast radio bursts – described as ‘brief and mysterious beacons’ – have been spotted in various and distant parts of the universe, as well as in our own galaxy.

Their origins are unknown, and their appearance is unpredictable.

The discovery of FRB 20191221A was made by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) telescope.

CHIME (Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment), situated in British Columbia, Canada, has four 328-foot-long U-shaped cylinders, allowing it to detect signals from when the universe was between six and 11 billion years old.

And this telescope has nearly quadrupled the number of fast radio bursts discovered to date.

The pattern of FRB 20191221A’s radio bursts was found to have similarities with emissions from radio pulsars and magnetars in our own galaxy. 

Radio pulsars are neutron stars that emit beams of radio waves, appearing to pulse as the star rotates, while a similar emission is produced by magnetars due to their extreme magnetic fields.

The main difference between the new signal and radio emissions from our own galactic pulsars and magnetars is that FRB 20191221A appears to be more than a million times brighter. 

Michilli said the bright flashes could come from  a distant radio pulsar or magnetar that is normally less bright as it rotates and for some unknown reason ejected a train of brilliant bursts, ‘in a rare three-second window that CHIME was luckily positioned to catch,’ he  continued.

‘CHIME has now detected many FRBs with different properties,’ Michilli said. 

‘We’ve seen some that live inside clouds that are very turbulent, while others look like they’re in clean environments. 

‘From the properties of this new signal, we can say that around this source, there’s a cloud of plasma that must be extremely turbulent.’

The astronomers hope to catch additional bursts from the periodic FRB 20191221A, which can help to narrow down the signa’s source and learn more about neutron stars.

‘This detection raises the question of what could cause this extreme signal that we’ve never seen before, and how can we use this signal to study the universe,’ Michilli said. 

‘Future telescopes promise to discover thousands of FRBs a month, and at that point we may find many more of these periodic signals.’

WHAT IS THE CHIME TELESCOPE? 

Image provided by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment collaboration shows the CHIME radio telescope

The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (Chime) is a radio telescope in Canada.

£12.2 million ($16 million) in funding, CHIME sits in the mountains of British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley at the NRC’s Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory near Penticton.

It contains four 100-meter-long (328 foot) U-shaped cylinders, allowing it to detect signals from when the universe was between 6 and 11 billion years old.

With its U-shaped cylinders made of metal mesh, the experts have compared it to the half-pipes used by snowboarders and skateboarders.

CHIME is a stationary array, with no moving parts. The telescope receives radio signals each day from half of the sky as the Earth rotates.

While most radio astronomy is done by swivelling a large dish to focus light from different parts of the sky, CHIME stares, motionless, at the sky.

It focuses incoming signals using a correlator – a powerful digital signalling processor that can work through huge amounts of data, at a rate of about 7 terabits per second, equivalent to a few per cent of the world’s internet traffic.

‘Digital signal processing is what makes CHIME able to reconstruct and “look” in thousands of directions simultaneously,’ said Kiyoshi Masui, assistant professor of physics at MIT.

‘That’s what helps us detect FRBs a thousand times more often than a traditional telescope.’

Its unique design, coupled with advanced computing power, will serve as a ‘time machine’ to peer deep into the history of the universe.

CHIME collects radio waves with wavelengths between 37 and 75 centimeters.

Most of these signals come from the Milky Way, but, some began their journey billions of years ago. 

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How (and When) to Watch the Massive K2 Comet Pass Earth

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Photo: Jim Cumming (Shutterstock)

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What is K2?

The comet C/2017 K2 (PanSTARRS)—or “K2″ for short—was first spotted five years ago, in May 2017 by the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA reports. The agency shared an image of the comet taken on June 20th, 2022, when it was (relatively) near open star cluster IC 4665 and bright star Beta Ophiuchi, near a starry edge of the Milky Way.

This is the first time the K2 comet has made its way to the inner Solar System from the dim and distant Oort cloud, NASA explains. When it was first observed in May 2017, it was the most distant active inbound comet ever discovered—roughly 2.4 billion kilometers from the Sun, between the orbital distances of Uranus and Saturn.

How big is K2?

When the K2 comet first became visible on the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists estimated that it had a nucleus nearly 11 miles in diameter. But according to research from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, the comet’s nucleus is estimated to have a radius between nine and 50 miles. Either way, it’s pretty damn big.

And that’s not counting the size of K2’s tail—the trail of gasses and dust behind the comet—also known as a “coma.” According to early estimates, K2’s tail is anywhere between 81,000 and 500,000 miles across. For some perspective, that’s somewhere between the width of one and six Jupiters.

When will K2 be visible?

Your best chance of seeing the K2 comet will be the night of July 14th, which is when it will make its closest approach to Earth. Even though it’s huge, you’ll likely need at least a small telescope to spot the comet. Look for a fuzzy patch of light (which is the tail).

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If you’d prefer to watch the comet pass Earth from the comfort of your own home, the Virtual Telescope Project will be live-streaming it starting at 6.15 pm on July 14. But don’t worry too much if you miss K2 on the 14th—it should be visible with a telescope until September.

The closest it will get to the Sun will be in December.

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A 4-Billion-Year-Old Piece of Earth’s Crust Has Been Identified Beneath Australia

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Scientists can use various clues to figure out what’s under Earth’s surface without actually having to do any digging – including firing super-fine lasers thinner than a human hair at minerals found in beach sand.

 

This technique has been used in a new study that points to a 4-billion-year-old piece of Earth’s crust about the size of Ireland, which has been sitting under Western Australia and influencing the geological evolution of the area across millions of millennia.

It might be able to provide clues to how our planet went from being uninhabitable to supporting life.

The researchers think that the huge expanse of crust would have heavily influenced the formation of rocks as old materials were mixed with new, having first appeared as one of the planet’s earliest protocrust formations and surviving multiple mountain-building events.

“When comparing our findings to existing data, it appears many regions around the world experienced a similar timing of early crust formation and preservation,” says geology PhD student and lead author Maximilian Dröellner, from Curtin University in Australia.

“This suggests a significant change in the evolution of Earth some 4 billion years ago, as meteorite bombardment waned, crust stabilized, and life on Earth began to establish.”

The lasers were used to vaporize grains of the mineral zircon, taken from sand sampled from rivers and beaches in Western Australia.

 

Technically known as laser ablation split stream-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, the method enables scientists to date the grains and compare them with others to see where they might have come from.

This gave the team an insight into the crystalline basement under Earth’s surface in this particular region – showing where the grains had originally eroded from, the forces used to create them, and how the geology of the region had built up over time.

As well as the significance of the protocrust remnant still being there – about 100,000 square kilometers (38,610 square miles) of it – the boundaries of the block will also help scientists to chart out what else is hidden away under Earth’s surface, and how it might have evolved to be in its current state.

“The edge of the ancient piece of crust appears to define an important crustal boundary controlling where economically important minerals are found,” says research supervisor geologist Milo Barham, from Curtin University.

“Recognizing these ancient crustal remnants is important for the future of optimized sustainable resource exploration.”

As you might expect after 4 billion years, there’s not much left of Earth’s original crust to study, which makes findings like this one all the more interesting and useful to experts – giving us an important window into the distant past.

 

The shifting of Earth’s crust and the swirling of the hot mantle underneath are difficult to predict and to retrospectively map out. When evidence of interior movement and geology can be found on the surface, scientists are therefore very keen to make use of it.

Further down the line, the results of the study described here could also help scientists who are looking at other planets – the way these planets are formed, how their earliest crust is shaped, and even how alien life might get established on them.

“Studying the early Earth is challenging given the enormity of time that has elapsed, but it has profound importance for understanding life’s significance on Earth and our quest to find it on other planets,” says Barham.

The research has been published in the journal Terra Nova.

 

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Asteroid 2022 NF will fly extremely close to Earth tonight

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A small asteroid the size of a bus will make an extremely close approach to Earth on Thursday (July 7), passing within just 56,000 miles (90,000 kilometers) — or about 23% of the average distance between Earth and the moon. And just a few days ago, no one knew it was coming

The asteroid, named 2022 NF, is expected to pass safely by our planet, according to calculations by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Astronomers discovered the sneaky asteroid using data from the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) — a system of cameras and telescopes based in Hawaii with the primary goal of detecting near-Earth objects, or NEOs. On July 4, researchers identified the object and calculated its approximate size and trajectory, estimating that the space rock measured between 18 and 41 feet wide (5.5 meters and 12.5 meters) at its longest dimension.

Related: Why are asteroids such weird shapes?

Because of its diminutive size, 2022 NF does not fit NASA’s criteria for a “potentially hazardous asteroid,” which generally must measure at least 460 feet (140 meters) long and pass within 4.6 million miles (7.5 million km) of Earth, according to Live Science’s sister site Space.com. While the newly detected asteroid will sail well within that distance, it is much too small to be considered an existential threat to Earth.

Though the asteroid makes its closest approach to Earth on July 7, it will be visible to some telescopes beginning on Wednesday (July 6); the Virtual Telescope Project will livestream the asteroid’s flyby from their telescope in Rome, beginning at 4 p.m. EDT (08:00 UTC). You can join in by clicking over to the Virtual Telescope Project’s website here.

NASA and other space agencies closely monitor thousands of NEOs like this one. Rarely do they pose a threat to Earth — but, some large asteroids could prove dangerous if their trajectories should happen to change.

In November 2021, NASA launched an asteroid-deflecting spacecraft called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), which will slam head-on into the 525-foot-wide (160 m) Dimorphos asteroid in autumn 2022. The collision will not destroy the asteroid, but it may change the space rock’s orbital path slightly, Live Science previously reported. The mission will help test the viability of asteroid deflection, should some future asteroid pose an imminent threat to our planet.

Originally published on Live Science.

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Watch a bus-sized asteroid pass safely by Earth today

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A space rock at least the size of a bus will safely whiz by our planet today, and you can watch the event on a free livestream.

The Virtual Telescope Project will broadcast the flyby of asteroid 2022 NF from Rome, Italy, where the project is situated. If weather conditions allow, you can watch the livestream starting at 4 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT) in the window above or directly from the Virtual Telescope Project (opens in new tab).

At a nearest approach of 56,000 miles (90,000 kilometers), 2022 NF will come within about 23% of the distance to our moon. That’s close in celestial terms, but still a very safe distance for Earth.

Related: Just how many threatening asteroids are there? It’s complicated.

The flyby event is the project’s tribute to 2022’s Asteroid Day, according to Virtual Telescope Project founder Gianluca Masi. Asteroid Day is an Asteroid Foundation annual promotion of space rocks and planetary defense research that takes place on June 30.

The space rock, first spotted (opens in new tab) in 2022, is at its longest dimension between 18 feet and 41 feet (5.5 meters and 12.5 meters). That’s at least bus-sized, although the asteroid could range as large as a shipping container.

That size means that, technically speaking, 2022 NF is not classified as a “potentially hazardous asteroid” (PHA) by the metrics (opens in new tab) used by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California.

A poster advertising the 2022 NF asteroid flyby of July 6, 2022. (Image credit: Virtual Telescope Project)

While the asteroid will come well within the required 4.6 million miles (7.5 million km) of Earth to qualify as a PHA, its small size is well under the generally accepted 460 feet (140 meters) that also forms this designation. The size, however, is an approximation as usually we can only assess asteroids by their brightness, a proxy for size.

As a note, “potentially hazardous” is not meant to be a formal assessment of the likelihood or danger of an asteroid hitting the Earth, and how hazard is determined is complicated (opens in new tab). 

The asteroid circles the sun about every six years, according to JPL’s Small-Body Database, where you can look up any asteroid ever tracked by professional telescopes. You can also see 2022 NF on JPL’s list of upcoming close asteroid approaches.

NASA and a network of partner telescopes regularly monitor the sky for small bodies like 2022 NF and have found no imminent threats to worry about, although they keep searching and working on planetary defense technologies as a precaution.

If you’re looking for binoculars or a telescope to see the asteroid in the night sky, check out our guide for the best binocular deals and the best telescope deals now. If you need equipment to capture the moment, consider our guides for the best cameras for astrophotography and the best lenses for astrophotography to make sure you’re ready for the next asteroid sighting.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) and on Facebook (opens in new tab). 



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