Watch online, as the asteroid 2018 RC sweeps the past | Human world

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Click here to access the online viewing page.

On September 9, 2018, the near Earth asteroid 2018 RC will have a very close, but safe, encounter with us, about 136,000 miles (220,000 km) from the Earth's surface, about 50% of the distance lunar. The virtual telescope project will show you live.

The near-Earth asteroid 2018 RC, discovered by poll ATLAS (Hawaii) on September 3, 2018 and announced the next day by the Minor Planet Center, has an estimated diameter between 32 and 71 meters. . Just before its overflight, it will be visible with small telescopes (10 cm or more), as a 12 th magnitude light point.

At this brightness, the asteroid will not be visible to the eye alone.

An overview of the asteroid 2018 RC on September 6, from the Virtual Telescope Project. It will move towards the Earth and will pass about half of the moon on the night of September 8th.

The virtual telescope project will show you the asteroid live, so you can join the trip in the comfort of your home. The live stream will begin September 8, 2018, at 22 UTC (6 pm Eastern Time, translate UTC time to your time), when the asteroid will be close to its maximum brightness.

To register, you just need to enter, on the date and at the above time, our WebTV page here!

The 2018 RC asteroid, captured in a single 120-second exposure by Gianluca Masi of the Virtual Telescope Project. The telescope was following the apparent movement of the asteroid, which is why the stars come in the form of small trails, while the asteroid seems like a bright spot in the center of the image. At the time of imaging, the 2018 asteroid RC was about a million kilometers (about 1.5 million km) from the Earth, approaching our neighborhood from space.

Bottom line: The Virtual Telescope Project presents an online visualization of the newly discovered 2018 asteroid on September 8 at 22 UTC (6 pm ET). If you want to participate, click here.