The stadium-sized asteroid 2020 XR is set to make its closest recorded pass by Earth early on December 4, and the thrilling encounter will be livestreamed for all to watch.
A "potentially hazardous" asteroid, roughly the
size of a football stadium, will streak past Earth in the early hours of
tomorrow morning (Dec. 4) — and you can watch it live.
The massive space rock, hurtling through space at about
27,500 miles per hour (44,300 kilometers per hour), will come as close as 1.37
million miles (2.2 million kilometers) to Earth at 0:27 ET — marking its
closest recorded approach, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
The historic flyby can be viewed
through a free livestream provided by the Virtual Telescope Project (VTP),
starting at 13:30 ET today (Dec. 3). According to the European Space Agency(ESA), asteroid 2020 XR will also be visible through telescopes as small as 8
inches (20 centimeters).
Asteroid 2020 XR is classified by NASA as a near-Earth
object (NEO), meaning its orbit occasionally brings it within 1.3 astronomical
units (AU) of the Sun — about 1.3 times the average distance between Earth and
the Sun.
Any NEOs that come within 4.65
million miles (7.5 million kilometers) of Earth and are larger than 500 feet
(150 meters) in diameter are deemed "potentially hazardous." However,
the flyby on Dec. 4 poses no threat to our planet.
Related: NASA's Most Wanted: The 5
Most Dangerous Asteroids to Earth
"When astronomers first spotted 2020 XR, they believed
there was a small chance it could impact Earth in 2028," said Juan Luis
Cano, coordinator of the ESA's Near-Earth Object Coordination Center, in the
statement. "However, by revisiting older data and tracking the asteroid,
they were able to refine its trajectory and eliminate any potential
threat."
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