& # 39; Asteroid & # 39; Walnut's several kilometers wide with its own moon to fly to the ground Saturday – CBS Los Angeles

(Local CAS Section) – An asteroid nearly one kilometer wide with its own moon should cross Earth Saturday, traveling at 60,000 km / h.

The unnamed space rock called asteroid (66391) 1999 KW4 is actually a double asteroid or a binary asteroid. This means that it is composed of a large asteroid orbited by a smaller moon. In this case, it is about a third of a mile wide and gravitates around the widest body about once every 16 hours.

The Observatory of Las Cumbres describes 1999 KW4 as "slightly crushed at the poles and with a mountain ridge around the equator, which runs all around the asteroid. This ridge gives the primary an appearance similar to that of a walnut or a spinning top. "

While 1999 KW4 is classified as a "potentially dangerous asteroid" by the Minor Planet Center, it should release the Earth at a very safe distance of 3,219,955 miles. To put things into perspective, this represents more than 13 times the distance from Earth to the Moon.

This will be the second closest approach that KW4 has adopted in 1999 over the past two decades, and the closest approach on Earth until 2036, according to CNET. It will also be by far the largest object to approach at approximately 20 lunar distances (4,647,790 miles) this year.

The closest approach will be on Saturday at 19:05. EDT (23:05 UTC) and will be more favorable for observers of the southern hemisphere of the Earth. Residents of the northern hemisphere will have to wait a day or two after the closest approach for the asteroid to reach our southern horizons.

If you want to try to spot it, check out the useful tips and graphics provided by NASA's Solar System Ambassador Eddie Irizarry at EarthSky.