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A " potentially wild " asteroid the size of a football arena will zoom past our major planet in the early hours tomorrow morning ( Dec. 4 ) — and you’re able to watch it live .
The gigantic space rock music , which is traveling at roughly 27,500 miles per hour ( 44,300 kilometers per hour ) , will make a minimum length of 1.37 million miles ( 2.2 million km ) from Earth at 0:27 ET — its penny-pinching approach to our major planet on record , harmonize toNASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory ( JPL ) .
The “potentially hazardous” asteroid is roughly the size of a football stadium.
The historic flyby can be follow via afree livestreamfrom the Virtual Telescope Project ( VTP ) which starts at 13:30 ET today ( Dec. 3 ) . 2020 XR will also be seeable to8 inch ( 20 centimeter ) scope , according to a command by theEuropean Space Agency(ESA ) .
Asteroid 2020 XR is classified byNASAas anear Earth object , or NEO , meaning that its celestial orbit sometimes brings it within 1.3 astronomical units ( AU ) of the sun — tantamount to 1.3 times the medium distance between the Dominicus and Earth .
Any NEOs that come on within 4,650,000 stat mi ( 7,500,000 kilometre ) of Earth and are magnanimous than 500 feet ( 150 measure ) in diam are view to be"potentially hazardous . “However , the flyby on Dec. 4 does not pose any threat to our planet .
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" When astronomers first discovered 2020 XR , they call up it had a small-scale fortune of impacting Earth in 2028,“Juan Luis Cano , coordinator of the ESA ’s Near - Earth Object Coordination Center , said in the instruction . " But by going back and find the asteroid in quondam information , they were able to refine its trajectory and govern out any hazard . "
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The asteroid measures approximately 1,200 feet ( 366 m ) in diam , make itlarge enough to wipe out a low urban center .
The blank sway last set about Earth in December 1977 — before it was discovered . However , at the time , its minimum distance was roughly 10 million Admiralty mile ( 16 million km ) further out than what is expected during tonight ’s face-off , JPL estimates .
2020 XR is not expect to near this close again until at least the yr 2196 . It is next forecast to fly past our planet in November 2028 . However , the minimum length will be much further away , at an estimated 11.3 million miles ( 18.2 million km ) .
