(Newsweek) – Next month you will be able to watch as a huge asteroid named after an ancient Egyptian god of chaos passes through Earth’s cosmic neighborhood.
On March 5, the Virtual Telescope Project will be hosting a live streamof the asteroid, dubbed “Apophis,” as it passes within around 10 million miles of Earth.
Clearly, there is no risk of a collision from this encounter. But while it sounds like a huge distance, this is relatively close in astronomical terms.
In addition, this is the closest look that scientists will get of the rock before it makes an extremely close approach to our planet on April 13, 2029—when it will be visible with the naked eye for several hours.
On this date, the space rock—which is estimated to measure more than 1,100 feet in diameter, nearly as tall as the Empire State Building in New York City—will come within around 20,000 miles of Earth. This is very close for an asteroid and equivalent to around 10 percent of the average distance between the Earth and the moon. READ MORE
