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How to Watch Tonight's Asteroid Flyby

Huge near-Earth asteroid 2012 LZ1 is approaching

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Jun 14, 2012 4:55 AM CDT

(Newser) – An unusually large and bright asteroid will fly by Earth tonight, and astronomers believe it will come close enough to be caught on camera, Space.com reports. 2012 LZ1, which was only discovered this week, is between 1,000 and 2,300 feet wide and, at its closest, is expected to come within 3.35 million miles of Earth, roughly 14 times the distance between our planet and the moon. The team running the Slooh Space Camera will be streaming live footage of the flyby from 8pm ET. Click here for the Slooh website.

This diagram shows where the asteroid will appear in the night sky.
This diagram shows where the asteroid will appear in the night sky.   (Slooh Space Telescope)
A team from the Remanzacco Observatory took this image of 2012 LZ1 yesterday.
A team from the Remanzacco Observatory took this image of 2012 LZ1 yesterday.   (Nick Howes, Ernesto Guido & Giovanni Sostero)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 4 comments
JoeQ
Jun 14, 2012 1:01 PM CDT
Less than half a mile wide and 3 million miles away?  You'll need a good telescope.
saucier111
Jun 14, 2012 11:25 AM CDT
Thousands of years before the christians got into the scene. The ancient Sumerians dating back to 3800bc left burried 22,000 clay cuniform tablets wich we can translate. Wrote about our twelveth planet, they called Nibiru that circles the sun every 3600 years. Nasa calls it the tenth planet, but since finding it in the early 1980's they have been hush hush about it why. When will Nibiru get closest to earth?
JackNelsonSteward
Jun 14, 2012 7:43 AM CDT
1) Go outside ... at night, 2)  Look up. 3)  Watch for stuff that moves.

 
astronomy • asteroid • near earth objects • outer space • Slooh Space Camera

 
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