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An enormous “planet killer” asteroid will make a really shut strategy to Earth later this week, safely zipping previous our planet at round 58,000 mph (93,000 km/h). The “probably hazardous,” mountain-size object is likely one of the largest area rocks to go near Earth in additional than a century — and you’ll watch the shut encounter reside.
The asteroid, 2011 UL21, is a near-Earth asteroid, which means its orbit sometimes places it inside 1.3 astronomical models (AU) of the sun — or roughly 1.3 occasions the typical distance between Earth and the solar. It orbits our dwelling star as soon as each three years. Based mostly on previous observations, the area rock is someplace between 1.1 and a pair of.4 miles (1.7 to three.9 kilometers) vast, in response to SpaceReference.org, which means it is bigger than 99% of identified near-Earth asteroids, in response to the European Space Agency (ESA).
2011 UL21 is probably going a minimum of 10 occasions smaller than the largest space rock to ever hit Earth, the Vredefort asteroid, and round 5 occasions smaller than the rock that wiped out the dinosaurs round 66 million years in the past. Nonetheless, whereas any potential affect from 2011 UL21 could be much less excessive than these historic collisions, the asteroid nonetheless has the potential to trigger harm on a continental scale and eject sufficient particles into the environment to set off vital climatic adjustments, which is why it’s thought of a “planet killer.”
On June 27, 2011 UL21 will zoom previous at round 4.1 million miles (6.6 million km) from Earth, which is nearer than it has been to our planet for a minimum of 110 years, in response to simulations by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). At this distance, it’s thought of a potentially hazardous object by NASA. Nonetheless, that is nonetheless round 17 occasions farther away from our planet than the moon.
Though the area rock poses no risk to Earth — both now or sooner or later — it’s fascinating as a result of it is in all probability one of many 10 greatest asteroids to go inside 4.7 million miles (7.5 million km) of our planet since 1900, Gianluca Masi, an astrophysicist and director of the Digital Telescope Undertaking (VTP), wrote in a recent statement.
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You possibly can watch 2011 UL21’s closest strategy due to a free livestream from the VTP, which is able to share the view of the asteroid from the Bellatrix Astronomical Observatory in Ceccano, Italy. The stream begins at 4 p.m. ET on June 27, with the shut strategy predicted to happen quarter-hour later.
You might also have the ability to spot the asteroid within the night time sky with a decent telescope. It will likely be at its brightest on June 28 and June 29 and ought to be seen from the Northern Hemisphere if where to look. At its brightest, it should have an identical brightness to Proxima Centauri — the closest identified star to the solar, in response to VTP.
2011 UL21 won’t get this near Earth once more till 2089, when the area rock will get to inside 1.7 million miles (2.7 million km) of our planet — greater than two and a half occasions nearer to us than its present strategy, in response to JPL simulations.
There’s zero likelihood that any identified planet killer asteroid will slam into Earth for at least the next 1,000 years. Nonetheless, there will likely be some shut calls with smaller asteroids within the subsequent few years. For instance, the asteroid Apophis, which is sufficiently big to wipe out a complete metropolis, will zip past Earth closer than some satellites in 2029.
