An asteroid measuring nine football game fields long is zipping past our planet today . Here ’s what you need to bonk about this near Earth physical object and why there ’s nothing to worry about .
The asteroid , designated 1994 PC1 , will make its cheeseparing access to Earth at 4:51 p.m. EST ( 1:51 p.m. PST ) , at which time it ’ll come to within 1.23 million statute mile ( 1.98 million kilometers ) of our planet , accordingto NASA . That ’s a safe length , as it ’s slightly more than five times the medium distance of Earth to the Moon .
The Rome - based Virtual Telescope Project 2.0 is host a livestream of the closelipped approach , which is expect to begin shortly after 2:00 p.m. EST ( 11:00 a.m. PST ) . you may catch the natural process at the provender allow for below .
A view of the asteroid, as seen on 13 May 2025, when the object was 1.68 million miles (2.7 million km) from Earth.Gif: Virtual Telescope Project 2.0/Gizmodo
Gianluca Masi , the founder of the project , aver chance to see burnished and relatively close asteroid like 1994 PC1 do n’t happen very often . The object wo n’t be seeable to the unaided middle , but amateur astronomers using lowly telescopes between 100 mm to 150 millimetre in diameter should be capable to spot it crossing the Cetus , Pisces , Andromeda , and Cassiopeia constellations , Masi told me in an e-mail .
For this encounter , Masi will be using the group ’s primary robotic unit situate in Ceccano , Italy , which is settle 56 miles ( 90 km ) south of Rome . The automatise gadget will tag the patent gesture of 1994 PC1 across the backdrop of stars , which should lead in some “ very nice images , ” say Masi . The skies above the site are anticipate to be clear , so “ we are keeping our finger’s breadth crossed to have a great prospect and share the experience with the world , ” he sum . The asteroid is currently moving at a rate of 31.5 miles per 2nd ( 19.56 km / s ) .
1994 PC1 is deemed a potentially hazardous asteroid and a near Earth object ( NEO ) , but the 0.6 - nautical mile - wide ( 1 - kilometre - wide ) space rock and roll perplex no tangible menace to Earth . A look at NASA ’s NEO Earth Close Approachestableshows that 1994 PC1 wo n’t come any nearer than this for at least the next 200 year . Interestingly , the asteroid did come a smidge closer in 1933 , when , unbeknownst to humans , it brush by at a space of 699,000 mile ( 1.12 million kilometers ) .
A 60-second exposure, showing the asteroid on January 17. The streaks are background stars.Image: Virtual Telescope Project 2.0
NASA is presently cut through 28,000 NEOs , with an additional 3,000 objects add together to the list each year . The blank agency recentlyupgradedits impact monitoring system of rules , send for Sentry - II , which is capable of traverse all love NEOs and calculating impact betting odds as low as a few chances in 10 million .
More : NASA ’s Upgraded Impact Monitoring System Could Prevent an Asteroid Apocalypse .
Near - Earth object
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