Closest asteroid passing the Earth to occur on Monday

A giant rock hurtling through space will pass by the Earth within 745,000 miles on Monday night, the closest something so big will come until 2027. The asteroid, named 2004 BL86, will be nearest to the Earth at about 11:19 am ET, according to NASA. It will pass over European and North American skies.

Although there are quite a few asteroids in the solar system that pose a threat to the Earth – currently about 550 – NASA released a statement assuring people that there is no threat of a collision with Monday’s asteroid. Even at its closest, the giant object will still be about three times as far away as the moon. “While it poses no threat to Earth for the foreseeable future, it’s a relatively close approach by a relatively large asteroid, so it provides us a unique opportunity to observe and learn more,” said Don Yeomans, the recently retired manager of NASA’s Near Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory based in Pasadena, California.

This special event means that amateur enthusiasts will get the rare opportunity to view the asteroid using only a telescope, or maybe even strong binoculars. However, any telescope able to view the asteroid must have at least a four-inch lens. Even if these items are not available, The Virtual Telescope Project 2.0 will stream the whole thing live online. The asteroid will look like a dim, slowly moving star, and will pass by Jupiter and the constellation Cancer.

The next close flyby from an asteroid this large will be Asteroid 1999 AN10 in 2027. NASA will use radar technology on Monday night to procure new images and information about 2004 BL86, and about asteroids in general. This rock is about a third of a mile, or half a kilometer, in size. Despite the reassurances of NASA, Virtual Telescope’s WebTV lists the asteroid as “Potentially Hazardous.”

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