Asteroid racing past Earth today will be closer than the MOON – and you can watch it live online Asteroids 2014 DX110 closest approach will be at 21:07 GMT (16:07 EST) It is 98ft (30m) across and will get within 217,000 miles (350,000km) of Earth Asteroid is travelling at 33,000 mph and is not expected to hit the planet Live webcast will be available on Slooh and the Virtual Telescope Project Slooh site crashed last month following popularity of asteroid 2000 EM26 By ELLIE ZOLFAGHARIFARD PUBLISHED: 13:37 GMT, 4 March 2014 | UPDATED: 16:06 GMT, 5 March 2014 Tonight an asteroid the size of three double decker buses and travelling at at 33,000 mph will come closer to Earth than the moon. At 21:07 GMT (16:07 EST), the asteroid will make its closest approach reaching a distance of less than 217,000 miles (350,000 km), or nine-tenths of the distance between the moon and Earth. Scientists claim it will avoid a collision with Earth, but the 98ft (30 metre) asteroid will provide spectacular views for anyone with a good telescope in their back garden. Scroll down for video The orbit of 2014 DX110. The planets are white lines, and the asteroid/comet is a blue line. The light blue indicates the portion above the solar systems plane, known as the ecliptic. The dark blue the portion below the ecliptic plane Whenever you see this image, tap to view all the images in a gallery The orbit of 2014 DX110. The planets are white lines, and the asteroid/comet is a blue line. The light blue indicates the portion above the solar systems plane, known as the ecliptic. The dark blue the portion below the ecliptic plane The Virtual Telescope Project and Slooh will be providing a live, online event sharing real-time images of the asteroid, named 2014 DX110 Could a harpoon capture COMETS? Canisters fired into space may return ice samples to answer how life formed on Earth A twist of plates: How the Earth almost looked with Africa split in two as a megacontintent crumbled The webcast will begin tomorrow night at 20:30 GMT (15:30 EST) and can be accessed here. It follows huge popularity of asteroid 2000 EM26 last month, with thousands of people stayed up into the early hours in the hope of catching a glimpse of a monster asteroid. This shows the location of the asteroid 2000 EM26 in the night sky on Feb. 17, 2014 during a live skywatching webcast by the online stargazing venture Slooh +3 This shows the location of the asteroid 2000 EM26 in the night sky on Feb. 17, 2014 during a live skywatching webcast by the online stargazing venture Slooh But just as the huge space rock came close to the planet’s orbit, the dedicated Slooh website, which promised a live stream of the event, crashed. APOLLO CLASS ASTEROIDS 2014 DX110 is an Apollo class asteroid, which means it has an Earth-crossing orbit. There are currently 240 known Apollos, but it is believed that there are at least 2000 Earth-crossers with diameters of 1 km or larger. If it hit Earth, an impacting Apollo asteroid would make a crater about 10-20 times its size. An asteroid 1 km in size could throw so much dust into the atmosphere that sunlight would be blocked for several years. The hope is the latest sighting will provide better views for those who log on. ‘On a practical level, a previously-unknown, undiscovered asteroid seems to hit our planet and cause damage or injury once a century or so, as we witnessed on June 20, 1908 and February 15, 2013,’ Slooh astronomer Bob Berman said in a statement. ‘Every few centuries, an even more massive asteroid strikes us — fortunately usually impacting in an ocean or wasteland such an Antarctica. ‘But the on-going threat, and the fact that biosphere-altering events remain a real if small annual possibility, suggests that discovering and tracking all near Earth objects, as well as setting up contingency plans for deflecting them on short notice should the need arise, would be a wise use of resources.’ 2014 DX110 is an Apollo class asteroid, which means it has an Earth-crossing orbit. There are currently 240 known Apollos, but it is believed that there are at least 2000 Earth-crossers with diameters of 1 km or larger. If it hit Earth, an impacting Apollo asteroid would make a crater about 10-20 times its size. Whats up for March 2014: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory 2014 DX110 is an Apollo class asteroid, which means it has an Earth-crossing orbit. If it hit Earth, an impacting Apollo asteroid would make a crate about 10-20 times its size +3 2014 DX110 is an Apollo class asteroid, which means it has an Earth-crossing orbit. If it hit Earth, an impacting Apollo asteroid would make a crate about 10-20 times its size Read more: dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2572908/Asteroid-race-past-Earth-tomorrow-YOU-watch-live-online.html#ixzz2v7tfUJui Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 21:39:51 +0000
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