When you purchase through links on our site , we may garner an affiliate commission . Here ’s how it exercise .
An tremendous asteroid has just zoomed safely past Earth , but it is n’t done with our planet yet .
This weekend , the mountain - sizing space sway will peak in luminosity in a rare once - in - a - decennary effect that you could observe from home withbasic stargazing binoculars — or in a costless livestream .
An illustration of a bright, near-Earth asteroid like Alinda
nominate ( 887 ) Alinda , the near - Earth asteroid measures an judge 2.6 miles ( 4.2 km ) wide — roughly the breadth of Manhattan — harmonise to NASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory . On Wednesday ( Jan. 8) , the squatty space rock made its closest approach path to Earth in decades , pounce to within 7.6 million mi ( 12.3 million kilometre ) of our planet , or about 32 times the averagedistance between Earth and the moon . Alinda is n’t omen to make another close glide path to Earth until 2087 .
While an asteroid this bigcould trigger off a mass extinction eventif it were to clash with Earth , its declamatory size also makes it a with child target for peculiar stargazers . On Sunday ( Jan. 12 ) , Alinda will top out in brightness at a magnitude of 9.4 . That is n’t bright enough to be seen with the bare middle , but it ’s bright enough to be seeable through entrance - level stargazing field glasses or agood backyard telescope , according to astronomer Gianluca Masi , who launch the Virtual Telescope Project in Italy .
The asteroid will be visible prompt through the constellation Gemini , which appears in the Northern Hemisphere just after dark and continue visible all dark long , fit in to skywatching reporterJamie Carter .
Related : NASA ’s most want : The 5 most dangerous asteroid to land
If you do n’t have the gear , do n’t grate ; Masi and the Virtual Telescope Project are host a loose livestream of asteroid Alinda ’s undimmed flyby on Jan. 12 at 12:30 p.m. EST . you’re able to look on it onthe project ’s prescribed YouTube pageor in the TV imbed below .
It ’s rare to see such a large aim pass this skinny to Earth . harmonize to Masi , events like this happen just once a decade , and Alinda is one of the five largestasteroidsthat will pass within 9.3 million miles ( 15 million km ) of our major planet from now until the yr 2200 .
— ' Spectacular ' asteroid blazes over Siberia just hours after it was detected
— ' Like nothing we ’ve seen before ' : James Webb telescope spies a mysterious asteroid - comet loan-blend lurking past Jupiter
— James Webb telescope spots more than 100 raw asteroid between Jupiter and Mars — and some are head toward Earth
Luckily , neither Alinda nor any other known asteroid poses a threat to Earth for at least the next century , according toNASA . However , outer space agencies take the threat of " planet killer " asteroid very seriously and are presently screen various global defense plans . NASA ’s recent Double Asteroid Redirection Test ( DART ) mission proved that it is potential to divert a enceinte asteroidby crash a spacecraft into it . However , the logistics of actually protecting Earth from a minacious asteroid would likely involve fire hundreds of rockets simultaneously , which would require years to 10 of in advance notice , Live Science previously reported . In the meantime , China plans to launch its ownasteroid deflection missionby 2030 .
If bright asteroid are not your space electronic jamming , then stay tuned for plenty of other exciting stargazing opportunities this month . On Monday ( Jan. 13 ) , thefull Wolf Moonwill uprise next to Mars and appear togobble up the Red Planetas Mars slips behind the moon for about four hours , before reemerging on the other side . afterwards , starting Jan. 21,a parade of six planetswill be visible in Earth ’s skies , with Venus , Mars , Jupiter and Saturn all visible to the naked center after dark and Uranus and Neptune seeable with stargazing equipment . The planet will linger in the sky through February , with Mercury also joining the planetary forward motion in early March .
NASA ’s Lucy spacecraft snaps first confining - ups of eldritch goober pea - shaped asteroid
' City - killer ' asteroid that might impinge on moonshine has ' unexpected ' shape , astronomers say
The unceasing surveillance of modern life story could worsen our psyche use in ways we do n’t fully realise , disturbing studies suggest
