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A large asteroid should be visited in a few hours and you can watch it live safely over our planet. CNET.
Estimated as the size of a 17-storey office building, the space rock will take a very close – and utterly disconcerting – approach this afternoon, slipping between the Earth and the Moon.
according to EarthSky, the asteroid was first spotted at the beginning of the week. Detected on September 3 by the ATLAS investigation at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, his imminent visit was announced by the Minor Planet Center the following day.
Nicknamed RC 2018, the near-Earth asteroid is said to have a width of 233 feet (71 meters) or about 'the same height as the 17-story Kajima building (also known as California Bank and Trust Building ) in Los Angeles. , "Notes CNET.
It's also the same as the wingspan of a Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet, emphasizes Astronomy now, stating that the asteroid 2018 RC would arrive at about half the distance between us and the moon.
We expect that the space rock will come at 18h. AND will pass only 136,702 miles (220,000 kilometers) from the surface of our planet – at exactly 0.58 lunar distance (LD).
The asteroid the size of a whipping building by us Saturday https://t.co/bRE8Zgk805 pic.twitter.com/9DuO7UqPG3
– CNET (@CNET) September 8, 2018
When the asteroid 2018 RC rocket later today, the space rock will be close enough and bright enough to be seen through a telescope.
"Just before its overflight, it will be visible with small telescopes (10 cm wide or more), as a 12 magnitude light point," says EarthSky.
Those who do not have adequate telescopes or who have cloudy skies can watch the asteroid zoom from the comfort of their home, as the event will be broadcast on the Virtual Telescope Project 2.0 website at from 6 pm AND.
Although this is not the closest asteroid encounter we have had this year, it will be a sight to watch nonetheless. Indeed, the space rock is one of the largest to approach a lunar distance in 2018.
As the Inquisitr recently reported, our closest rendezvous with an asteroid in 2018 took place on August 10, when the 201-meter PD20 asteroid 15 meters (49 feet) arrived near our planet at 33610 kilometers, or 0, 09 LD.
Since the beginning of March, seven other asteroids have moved to a lunar distance – some of even smaller diameter, others much larger. You can read about these close encounters in this Inquisitr article.
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