On Saturday , August 21 , a potentially wild asteroid will safely aviate past Earth at a distance of just3.4 million kilometers(2.1 million miles ) , the confining approach for several decades . That ’s just 8.9 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon .
Asteroid 2016 AJ193 is larger than 99 per centum of all lie with Near - Earth objects and so it is estimable to keep an eye on it .
The space tilt measures 1.37 kilometers ( 0.85 miles ) according to measurements fromNASA ’s space vehicle NEOWISE . It is also surprisingly drab , reflecting very niggling light back making this close ( and secure ) approach an important chance to better hit the books the object .
It was get word by the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System ( Pan - STARRS ) installation – located at Haleakala Observatory , Hawaii in January 2016 . It is of import to stress that an asteroid with the voltage to desolate our satellite was only discovered five years ago .
The asteroid orbits around the Sun every 5.9 age going far beyond the cranial orbit of Jupiter and then as far as the arena of Venus , with quite the inclination with respect to the plane of the solar system . Its next really close passage to Earth will be August 19 , 2080 , where the asteroid will be at about twice the space that it will be on Saturday .
Professional uranologist will canvass this object usingthe Goldstone Observatoryin California together with observatories in Spain , Germany , Italy , and Russia . The watching will cover the period August 20 to August 24 , roughly the sentence that it is observable for them .
But if you are passionate about uranology and you have a telescope , you to can look for it in the sky . Despite its dimness , astronomers expect that it should clear to at least the 14thmagnitude during its close approach .
scope of 20 centimeters ( 8 inches ) or larger should be able to spot it . It will seem in the constellation of Lepus , near the Mu Leporis maven . Better watch it just before cockcrow .
“ Not only is 2016 AJ193 a near - Earth asteroid , but it is too classified as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid . The flyby from a roughly 1 - mile ( ~1.4 km ) large body does not only involve specific attention , but it is also a open admonisher of the importance of building a community of interests of percipient capable of observing the sky from everywhere and all the time , ” Franck Marchis , primary scientific officer at Unistellar , told IFLScience .
