A gigantic, “potentially hazardous” space rock bigger than the Eiffel Tower will enter Earth’s orbit next week, according to NASA.
The egg-shaped asteroid, named 4660 Nereus, is 1,082 feet (330 meters) long and will break into Earth’s orbit traveling at 14,700 mph (23,700 km/h) on Saturday, Dec. 11. Thankfully for all of our weekend plans, the asteroid is expected to skim past Earth at some distance without making impact, but it will still be closer to us than it has been in 20 years.
Nereus will be roughly 2.4 million miles away (3.86 million km), around 10 times the distance between Earth and the moon. This may sound like an enormous gap, but by cosmic standards, it’s actually a stone’s throw away.
Related: Top 10 ways to destroy Earth
NASA flags any space object that comes within 120 million miles (193 million kilometers) of Earth as a “near-Earth object” and any fast-moving object within 4.65 million miles (7.5 million km) as “potentially hazardous.” Once flagged, astronomers closely monitor the objects, looking for any deviation from their predicted trajectory that could put them on a collision course with Earth.
First discovered in 1982, Nereus’ 1.82-year orbit of the sun brings it close to Earth nearly every 10 years. Because Nereus visits our region of the solar system so frequently NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA once considered collecting a sample from it using JAXA’s Hayabusa spacecraft, but the agencies eventually settled upon a different asteroid (25143 Itokawa) instead.
NASA projects that Nereus will make its next close approaches to Earth on March 2, 2031 and November 2050. An even closer visit is forecast to occur on Feb. 14, 2060, when Nereus may come within roughly 0.74 million miles (1.2 million km) of Earth.
Beyond being a target for a potential robotic craft sent by NASA, Nereus is also an enticing prize for prospective space mining. Asterank, a database that monitors more than 600,000 asteroids, estimates that the asteroid has nickel, iron and cobalt deposits worth a collective $4.71 billion.
If we ever do spot an asteroid headed straight for us, space agencies are working on a solution. On Nov. 23, NASA launched a spacecraft as part of its Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission in order to redirect an asteroid by ramming it off course, Live Science previously reported. China is also in the early planning stages of an asteroid-ramming mission; they propose that by slamming 23 of their Long March 5 rockets into the asteroid Bennu, they would be able to divert it from a potentially catastrophic impact with Earth, Live Science previously reported.
An asteroid the size of the Eiffel Tower is heading towards Earth this month and it’s considered an especially unique piece of rock by scientists.
The asteroid 4660 Nereus is classified as a “potentially hazardous” piece of rock because of its proximity to Earth. On Dec. 11, NASA expects it to be at its closest point to Earth over a 20-year period. The asteroid was discovered back in 1982.
The 4660 Nereus is a 330-meter asteroid in the shape of an egg and within the next week scientists anticipate it will come within 2.5 million miles from Earth. Despite that sounding like an incredibly far away distance, it’s about ten times farther away than the moon, which is considered close by cosmic standards.
NASA considers a near-Earth object to be an asteroid or comet that comes within approximately 30 million miles of Earth’s orbit.
According to an analysis by Forbes, Nereus has been a proposed target for a space mission multiple times, because of its egg shape, size and orbital path around the sun it makes for an ideal asteroid to visit.
America is changing faster than ever!Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news.
Even back in 2009 researchers considered Nereus, “a strong candidate for a rendezvous mission.”
Asterank, a database that monitors more than 600,000 asteroids, estimates that Nereus’ value is at $4.71 billion, making it one of the most cost-effective asteroids to leverage for mineral resources. The asteroid is thought to contain billions worth of nickel, iron and cobalt.
Asteroid mining is a concept that began to gain popularity in the early 2010s, but now as the commercial space industry has taken off with big players like Blue Origin and SpaceX, it could pick back up again starting with Nereus.
According to Forbes, it would take about a year for a robotic spacecraft to enter orbit around Nereus.
READ MORE STORIES FROM CHANGING AMERICA
SUPER ATHLETE REFUSES VACCINE, DIES TRAGICALLY
MODERNA CHIEF PREDICTS VACCINES COULD STRUGGLE AGAINST OMICRON
ALBERT EINSTEIN REVEALED THE SECRET TO HAPPINESS — AND HE USED JUST 17 WORDS
ANCIENT MAMMOTH TUSK DISCOVERED 10,000 FEET DEEP IN OCEAN OFF CALIFORNIA COAST
DOCTOR WHO DISCOVERED OMICRON EXPLAINS THE SYMPTOMS TO WATCH OUT FOR
Somewhere out there amongst the stars is 2021 NY1, another asteroid actively hurtling towards Earth at insane speeds. While it’s on track to pass the planet, it’s still close enough for NASA to classify it as a potentially hazardous “Near-Earth Object” (NEO), allowing the outfit to keep an extra eye on its future trajectory.
As of now, experts believe 2021 NY1 is moving through space at nearly 21,000 miles per hour despite its size, somewhere between 427 and 984 feet wide. The asteroid is expected to pass Earth on September 22nd with its closest point coming within 930,487 miles of the planet. While that may seem like a significant amount, NASA defines NEOs as “an asteroid or comet that approaches our planet less than 1.3 times the distance from Earth to the Sun.”
In comparison, from Earth to the moon is roughly 240,000 miles, hence the NEO status.
“Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) are comets and asteroids that have been nudged by the gravitational attraction of nearby planets into orbits that allow them to enter the Earth’s neighborhood,” NASA’s official NEO website says of the cosmic objects. “Composed mostly of water ice with embedded dust particles, comets originally formed in the cold outer planetary system while most of the rocky asteroids formed in the warmer inner solar system between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The scientific interest in comets and asteroids is due largely to their status as the relatively unchanged remnant debris from the solar system formation process some 4.6 billion years ago.”
Like virtually all other NEOs currently monitored by NASA, 2021 NY1 is expected to have no impact on the planet and life will carry on as usually into October and beyond so sorry, no Armageddon here, folks.
“2021 NY1 orbits the sun every 1,400 days (3.83 years), coming as close as 0.99 AU and reaching as far as 3.90 AU from the sun,” SpaceReference.org says of the asteroid. “Based on its brightness and the way it reflects light, 2021 NY1 is probably between 0.127 to 0.284 kilometers in diameter, making it a small to average asteroid, very roughly comparable in size to a school bus or smaller.”
The analysts at SpaceReference also suggest the next time 2021 NY1 will be close enough to be considered a Near-Earth Object will be on September 23, 2105.
NASA has given newly revised figures about the threat posed by the asteroid 101955 Bennu.
In a study released on Wednesday, NASA researchers said the chance of Bennu hitting Earth through the year 2300 is about 1 in 1,750. They also found that September 24, 2182, was “the most significant single date” for impact risk, with a probability of 1 in 2,700, according to the statement from the space agency.
Bennu has been the subject of scientific investigation for years, particularly since the OSIRIS-REx probe arrived at the vast space rock in December 2018.
NASA describes the asteroid as one of the two most hazardous in the solar system, even though the impact risk is still very low.
Impact threats aside, Bennu is of scientific importance for a number of reasons. For one thing, the asteroid’s average orbital distance from the sun is around 105 million miles, which is relatively close to that of the Earth at 93 million miles.
What’s more, it is a rare type of asteroid known as a B-type. That means it’s both very old—scientists think it formed over 4.5 billion years ago—and rich in carbon and might contain organic compounds.
On and beneath its pitch black surface, Bennu may contain chemicals and rocks from the birth of the solar system.
Plus, at 510 meters (1,673 feet) from pole to pole, Bennu is suitably large for an investigatory mission.
Sample From the Surface
For these reasons Bennu was selected as the target for OSIRIS-REx, and from late 2018 until earlier this year a probe had been circling the space rock to gather as much data as it could on its orbital path, size and shape, mass, composition and spin. Crucially, it also grabbed a surface sample.
The OSIRIS-REx probe began slowly drifting away from Bennu in April this year and set off on a two-year cruise back to Earth around a month later.
The probe is expected to return its Bennu surface sample, described by NASA as “pristine and precious cargo,” to Earth on September 24, 2023.
Bennu comes close to Earth once every six years, and orbits at an average speed of around 63,000 miles per hour. It takes about 1.2 years to fully orbit the sun and rotates once every 4.3 hours.
Scientists expect to further improve the assessment of Bennu’s Earth impact risk in 2037, when the asteroid will make a close approach to Earth and allow them to collect radar data.
A computer-generated image of the OSIRIS-REx probe collecting a sample from the surface of the asteroid Bennu. The spacecraft is due to return to Earth with the sample in 2023. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Bennu, as imaged by OSIRIS-REx.Image: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona
Data gathered during the years NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spent zipping around asteroid Bennu has allowed scientists to update the risk posed by this potentially hazardous near-Earth object.
The spacecraft OSIRIS-REx is currently en route to Earth, carrying surface samples it collected from asteroid Bennu. From December 2018 to May 2021, the NASA spacecraft studied the gigantic rubble pile from every angle, measuring its size, shape, mass, composition, spin, orbital trajectory, and other important characteristics. Bennu is a primitive carbonaceous asteroid, so by studying this object, scientists can make inferences about what our solar system was like during its formative period.
But there’s more to this $800 million mission than just looking for organic molecules or signs of water and heavy elements. Bennu is currently ranked second on the list of potentially dangerous asteroids, highlighting the importance of learning as much as we can about it—especially the orbital dynamics that dictate its future movements.
The new research, published in Icarus, does exactly this, providing a refined trajectory of Bennu through to the year 2300. The misanthropes among you may be pleased to learn that Bennu still has a very slight chance of hitting our planet next century. The odds of a collision through the year 2300 remain very low, however: They’re now pegged to be about 1 in 1,750, or 0.057%.
Data derived by OSIRIS-REx, NASA’s Deep Space Network, and computer models allowed the scientists to constrain uncertainties in Bennu’s orbit by a factor of 20. OSIRIS-REx is what really made this possible, as it measured Bennu’s position relative to Earth down to the scale of a few meters.
G/O Media may get a commission
Speaking earlier today at a teleconference held for reporters, Davide Farnocchia, the lead author of the new paper and a researcher with the Center for Near Earth Object Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, said it’s an “impressive” result, as “we had one of the best known orbits in the entire asteroid catalogue,” in reference to Bennu. Dante Lauretta, a co-author of the study and OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona, said this “incredible precision” allowed the team to characterize the asteroid’s orbital parameters and better predict where it’ll be in the future.
Impressively, the new model allowed the researchers to eliminate 24 of 26 possible keyholes for Bennu that were predicted to exist on September 11, 2135, when the asteroid is scheduled to safely zip past Earth. Gravitational keyholes can be likened to fictional gateways that take characters into alternative timelines (fans of the new Loki series know what I’m talking about). Keyholes are very much real, however, and they’re bad news—we don’t want asteroids to pass through keyholes, as they’re gateways that take asteroids onto orbital trajectories that threaten Earth.
There’s no chance of an impact during this encounter in 2135, said Farnocchia, but Bennu will be close to Earth—about half the distance from Earth to the Moon—and this will change the asteroid’s trajectory. To know this change in trajectory, however, scientists have to consider gravitational keyholes.
As NASA describes them, keyholes are “areas in space that would set Bennu on a path toward a future impact with Earth if the asteroid were to pass through them at certain times, due to the effect of Earth’s gravitational pull.” The new research describes two keyholes still in play, including one that would involve a collision between Earth and Bennu on September 24, 2182 (mark your calendars), but the probability is slim, at 1 in 2,700, or 0.037%. As Farnocchia reminded reporters repeatedly during the press conference, “there’s no reason for concern.”
The reason for so much uncertainty has to do with all the variables in play. Sir Isaac Newton described a universe that works with clock-like precision, but the clock that is our solar system features an unspeakable number of moving parts. These perturbing influences include things like the Sun’s gravity, the planets, all the moons, hundreds of asteroids, interplanetary dust, and the solar wind.
For the new study, Farnocchia and his colleagues tried to account for as many variables as possible to predict Bennu’s future trajectory, including the masses of 343 known asteroids. They even accounted for a possible nudge exerted by OSIRIS-REx when it grabbed a sample of surface material on October 20, 2020 (it turned out to be negligible) and bits of debris that are naturally falling from Bennu (also not a factor).
There’s also the Yarkovsky effect to consider. This is what happens when an object absorbs radiation from the Sun and this radiation then leaks away. This alters an object’s momentum in space, causing it to drift slightly from the path otherwise dictated by gravity. This effect is very slight, but it becomes meaningful over vast timescales. OSIRIS-REx gathered invaluable information—information that’s hard if not impossible to collect from the ground—that was used to calculate the Yarkovsky effect as Bennu travelled around the Sun, including the object’s size, mass, shape, rotation, surface properties, and other factors, as Farnocchia explained. This “helped us to model the future motion of Bennu,” he added.
Interestingly, the samples collected by OSIRIS-REx could further our understanding of how the Yarkovsky effect might continue to change Bennu’s trajectory. Analysis of the surface samples could “expose changes to the asteroid over time, like surface weathering,” which would “further our understanding of one of the most important parameters for determining orbital trajectory,” as Lauretta explained in response to a question posed by yours truly.
The new research provides the most solid estimates of Bennu’s future to date, but there’s still room for improvement. The researchers would like to account for the gravitational influence of all the asteroids in the solar system; determining the mass of these asteroids would be “a major next step forward,” said Farnocchia. Improved measurements of Bennu’s mass and density, which are still uncertain, would also help. Bennu is a loose pile of rocks and dust that probably features empty cavities and an uneven distribution of materials beneath the surface.
And now we wait for September 24, 2023, when OSIRIX-REx is set to return to Earth with its samples. Lauretta said the mission is in “great shape right now,” which is obviously good news. There’s still much to learn about this fascinating—and possibly worrisome—asteroid.
Scientists have calculated the probability that the potentially hazardous Bennu asteroid hits Earth between 2021 and 2300 after studying it for more than two years.
NASA revealed this information in a press release today, saying that while Bennu’s chances of hitting Earth are still very low, the organization has narrowed down its impact probability. It did this by studying its size, shape, mass, composition, spin, and orbital trajectory.
A mosaic of Bennu, Photo Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona
“Using NASA’s Deep Space Network and state-of-the-art computer models, scientists were able to significantly shrink uncertainties in Bennu’s orbit determining its total impact probability through the year 2300 is about 1 in 1,750 (or 0.057%),” the release reads. “The researchers were also able to identify Sept. 24, 2182, as the most significant single date in terms of a potential impact, with an impact probability of 1 in 2,700 (or about 0.037%).”
OSIRIS-REx spent more than two years in close proximity to Bennu before it finally left the area on May 10 and it studied virtually everything it could about the asteroid. It even grabbed a sample of the asteroid’s rock and dust, which will make its way back to Earth aboard OSIRIS-REX on Sept. 24, 2023.
Study lead Davide Farnocchia said NASA’s never modeled an asteroid’s trajectory to this level of precision — a very high degree of certainty through 2135 — before. The measurements OSIRIS-REx took allow NASA to determine Bennu’s orbit over time and whether or not it will pass through a gravitational keyhole, which is “an area in space that would set Bennu on a path toward a future impact with Earth if the asteroid were to pass through them at certain times due to Earth’s gravitational pull,” during its 2135 approach.
The team also studied the Yarkovsky effect and how it effects Bennu.
“Among those forces, the Sun’s heat plays a crucial role,” the release reads. “As an asteroid travels around the Sun, sunlight heats up its dayside. Because the asteroid spins, the heated surface will rotate away and cool down when it enters the nightside. As it cools, the surface releases infrared energy, which generates a small amount of thrust on the asteroid.”
Study co-investigator Steve Chesley said the Yarkovsky effect affects all asteroids, including Bennu. OSIRIS-REx gave NASA the first opportunity to measure this effect as Bennu traveled around the Sun. Chesley said the effect on Bennu is equivalent to “the weight of three grapes constantly acting on the asteroid.” They also said that effect is tiny but significant in determining Bennu’s future impact over the decades and centuries to come.
Gorgeous Photos of Earth from Space
Other include the Sun’s gravity, the planets, their moons, and other asteroids in its path. The team also studied the pressure of solar wind, the drag caused by interplanetary dust, and Bennu’s particle-ejection events. They even had to take into account the force OSIRIS-REx exerted on Bennu when it collected the rock sample and left the asteroid’s surface.
“Although a 0.057% impact probability through the year 2300 and an impact probability of 0.037% on Sept. 24, 2182, are low, this study highlights the crucial role that OSIRIS-REx operations played in precisely characterizing Bennu’s obit,” the release reads.
For more about asteroids, read this story about a metallic asteroid between Mars and Jupiter that has an estimated worth of $10,000 quadrillion and then read about how humans could live on a floating asteroid belt in space. Check out this first look at an asteroid sample from space after that, then read about how a meteorite piece found in Africa could be from an ancient planet.
Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.
BEIJING (Reuters) – The Chinese capital Beijing woke on Sunday morning shrouded in thick dust carrying extremely high levels of hazardous particles, as a second sandstorm in two weeks hit the city due to winds from drought-hit Mongolia and northwestern China.
Visibility in the city was reduced, with the tops of some skyscrapers obscured by the sandstorm, and pedestrians were forced to cover their eyes as gusts of dust swept through the streets.
“It’s quite serious today. There’s always a day or two like this (of pollution or dust) each month,” said Mr. Fan, 39, who did not wish to disclose his full name.
Beijing’s official air quality index reached a maximum level of 500 on Sunday morning, with floating particles known as PM10 surpassing 2,000 micrograms per cubic metre in some districts.
Readings of smaller PM2.5 particles were above 300 micrograms per cubic metre, far higher than China’s standard of 35 micrograms.
PM2.5 particles are especially harmful because they are very tiny and can enter the bloodstream, while PM10 is a larger particle that can enter the lungs.
The China Meteorological Administration issued a yellow alert on Friday, warning that a sandstorm was spreading from Mongolia into northern Chinese provinces including Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Liaoning and Hebei, which surrounds Beijing.
The meteorological office said the recent sandstorms to hit Beijing originated from Mongolia, where relatively warmer temperature this spring and reduced rain resulted in larger areas of bare earth, creating favorable conditions for sandstorms.
Beijing might face more sandstorms in April due to the unfavorable weather this year, the meteorological office said.
Reporting by Sophie Yu, Judy Hua and Martin Pollard; Editing by Michael Perry
A winter storm moving across Oklahoma Sunday morning is dumping heavy snow, causing hazardous driving conditions. Watch KOCO First Alert Weather Team coverage live in the video player above.A Winter Storm Warning is in effect for all 77 counties until 6 p.m. Monday. The heaviest snow is expected to fall Sunday afternoon.The Oklahoma Highway Patrol has already discouraged travel starting Sunday due to hazardous road conditions during the winter weather.>> First Alert Ride Along: Tracking snow, road conditions across OklahomaAccording to the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, the winter storm moving across the state has already covered some highways and interstates with several inches of snow, causing hazardous driving conditions. In western Oklahoma, several inches of snow are reported along with slick and hazardous driving conditions, according to ODOT. Visibility is low in some areas including the Panhandle due to blowing snow. In central Oklahoma, including the Oklahoma City metro, ODOT officials said snow is accumulating with slick and hazardous conditions developing. A band of snow is moving into northeast Oklahoma at this time, which will cause roadway conditions to quickly deteriorate.Oklahoma Department of Transportation crews started highway and interstate plowing operations in the impacted areas early Sunday morning and will continue this around-the-clock along with salt and sand treatments. However the amount of expected accumulations along with extremely frigid temperatures can rapidly cause roadways to become impassable.OG&E is reporting more than 3,500 customers without power, mostly in the Norman area. Check power outages here. Be sure to download the KOCO 5 App to receive customized weather alerts. You can watch our team coverage on the app, too.>> Check Live, Interactive Radar>> Check church closings>> Watch KOCO 5 Coverage>> Download the KOCO 5 App on iPhone>> Download the KOCO 5 App on Android>> “Like” KOCO 5 on Facebook>> “Follow” KOCO 5 on Twitter
OKLAHOMA CITY —
A winter storm moving across Oklahoma Sunday morning is dumping heavy snow, causing hazardous driving conditions.
Watch KOCO First Alert Weather Team coverage live in the video player above.
[Check latest weather alerts in your area | Check live traffic conditions | Check latest church closings | Check live, interactive radar | Check Oklahoma Department of Transportation’s Road Conditions Map | Watch KOCO First Alert Storm Chasers live ]
A Winter Storm Warning is in effect for all 77 counties until 6 p.m. Monday. The heaviest snow is expected to fall Sunday afternoon.
KOCO 5
Heaviest snow hits this Sunday afternoon.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol has already discouraged travel starting Sunday due to hazardous road conditions during the winter weather.
>> First Alert Ride Along: Tracking snow, road conditions across Oklahoma
According to the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, the winter storm moving across the state has already covered some highways and interstates with several inches of snow, causing hazardous driving conditions.
In western Oklahoma, several inches of snow are reported along with slick and hazardous driving conditions, according to ODOT. Visibility is low in some areas including the Panhandle due to blowing snow.
In central Oklahoma, including the Oklahoma City metro, ODOT officials said snow is accumulating with slick and hazardous conditions developing. A band of snow is moving into northeast Oklahoma at this time, which will cause roadway conditions to quickly deteriorate.
Oklahoma Department of Transportation crews started highway and interstate plowing operations in the impacted areas early Sunday morning and will continue this around-the-clock along with salt and sand treatments. However the amount of expected accumulations along with extremely frigid temperatures can rapidly cause roadways to become impassable.
OG&E is reporting more than 3,500 customers without power, mostly in the Norman area. Check power outages here.
Be sure to download the KOCO 5 App to receive customized weather alerts. You can watch our team coverage on the app, too.
Huge ‘potentially hazardous’ asteroid twice the size of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, will hurtle past Earth next month, NASA reveals
The asteroid – 231937 (2001 FO32) – was discovered by astronomers in 2001
It will be about 1.2 million miles from the Earth at its closest approach in March
This is about five times further out than the Moon but it is still classed as a risk
The rock is travelling around the Sun every 2.22 Earth years at about 77,000mph
‘Potentially hazardous’ applies to any large asteroid that comes within 4.5 million miles of the Earth and ‘could’ hit the planet at some point in the future
By Ryan Morrison For Mailonline
Published: | Updated:
A mile-wide asteroid twice the size of the world’s tallest building will pass Earth in March and has been dubbed ‘potentially hazardous’ by NASA.
The asteroid, named 231937 (2001 FO32), is unlikely to hit the Earth as it will be 1.2 million miles from the planet – five times further away than the Moon.
However, NASA dubs any space rock that comes within 93 million miles of us a ‘Near Earth Object’, which is three quarters of the 120 million-mile distance to Mars.
The mile-wide by half a mile-long space rock will make its closest approach to our planet at about 16:03 GMT on March 21. It has been branded ‘potentially hazardous’ as it ‘might’ hit the planet at some point in the future of the solar system.
Asteroid 231937 is the largest space rock to ‘come close’ to the Earth this year and at 1.7km is more than twice the size of the tallest building on Earth – the Burj Khalifa.
It should be possible to see the asteroid through an eight inch aperture telescope just after sunset on March 21 by looking slightly above the southern horizon.
Asteroid 231937 is the largest space rock to ‘come close’ to the Earth this year and at 1.7km is more than twice the size of the tallest building on Earth – the Burj Khalifa
NASA dubs any space rock that comes within 93 million miles of us a ‘Near Earth Object’, which is three quarters of the 120 million mile distance to Mars
The asteroid was first detected in 2001 by an array of telescopes in New Mexico that are part of the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) program.
The MIT project is funded by the US Air Force and NASA and it detected the space rock on March 23, 2001 and has been under observation ever since.
Using those observations astronomers calculated its orbit, found how close it would get to Earth and determined it would be going at 77,000mph.
SpaceReference.org wrote of the asteroid: ‘Based on its brightness and the way it reflects light, 2001 FO32 is probably between 0.767 to 1.714 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than ~97% of asteroids but small compared to large asteroids.’
The asteroid and Earth are seen on the left of this orbital map on the ‘blue’ Earth orbit line – the orbit of the asteroid is visible through the tall white lines
It should be possible to see the asteroid through an eight inch aperture telescope just after sunset on March 21 by looking slightly above the southern horizon. The pink dot is the asteroid and the lighter area is the sky visible from the UK on March 21 after sunset
It may be possible to see the space rock as it hurtles past the planet in March if you have a telescope with an aperture of at least eight inches.
The asteroid will be low in the southern sky, so may be difficult to spot from the norther hemisphere, according to EarthSky.org.
To find it look just above the horizon in the southern sky will glide through the southern constellations of Scorpius and Sagittarius.
It will be visible just above the horizon in the southern sky just after sunset if viewed from the UK and just before dawn if viewed from the southern US.
NASA keeps a close eye on all Near Earth Asteroids to determine whether any could come close to hitting the planet.
A massive mile wide asteroid twice the size of the tallest building in the world – the Burj Khalifa (pictured centre) – will ‘skim’ past the Earth in March
It is a broad definition – covering any object within about 93 million miles of the Earth – those dubbed ‘hazardous’ come within 4.6 million miles and are at least 500ft wide.
There are currently no asteroids that pose a significant risk to life on Earth for at least the next century, according to NASA, with just one having a 0.2 per cent chance of hitting the planet in 2185.
In the meantime space agencies around the world are investigating potential solutions for deflecting a future asteroid from hitting the Earth.
NASA has looked at using gravity from a flying spacecraft to ‘pull an asteroid’ to a new trajectory.
Astronomers are hunting for asteroids larger than 450ft as they can cause ‘catastrophic damage’
Researchers have discovered most of the asteroids that are about a kilometers in size, but are now on the hunt for those that are about 459ft (140m) – as they could cause catastrophic damage.
Although nobody knows when the next big impact will occur, scientists have found themselves under pressure to predict – and intercept – its arrival.
Artist’s impression pictured
‘Sooner or later we will get… a minor or major impact,’ said Rolf Densing, who heads the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt
It may not happen in our lifetime, he said, but ‘the risk that Earth will get hit in a devastating event one day is very high.’
