A huge ‘planet killer’ asteroid will make a very close approach to Earth later this week, speeding safely past our planet at a speed of around 93,000 km/h. The ‘potentially hazardous’ mountain-sized object is one of the largest space rocks to pass close to Earth in more than a century – and you can watch the encounter live.
The asteroid, 2011 UL21, is a near-Earth asteroid, meaning that its orbit occasionally brings it within 1.3 astronomical units (AU) of Earth. the sun – or about 1.3 times the average distance between the Earth and the Sun. It orbits our home star once every three years. Based on previous observations, the space rock is somewhere between 1.7 and 3.9 kilometers wide. SpaceReference.orgmeaning it is larger than 99% of known near-Earth asteroids, according to the European Space Agency (ESA).
2011 UL21 is probably at least 10 times smaller than the largest space rock to ever hit Earththe Vredefort asteroid, and about five times smaller than the rock that the dinosaurs exterminated about 66 million years ago. While any potential impact from 2011 UL21 would be less extreme than these historic collisions, the asteroid still has the potential to cause damage on a continental scale and throw enough debris into the atmosphere to cause significant climate changes. a ‘planet killer’.
On June 27, 2011, UL21 will zoom past about 4 million miles (6.6 million km) from Earth, which is closer than it has been to our planet in at least 110 years, according to simulations by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). At this distance it is considered one potentially dangerous object by NASA. However, this is still about 17 times further away from our planet than the moon.
Although the space rock poses no threat to Earth now or in the future, it is interesting because it is likely one of the ten largest asteroids to pass within 7.5 million kilometers of our planet since 1900. Gianluca Masian astrophysicist and director of the Virtual Telescope Project (VTP), wrote in a recent statement.
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The closest you can get to the 2011 UL21 is thanks to a free live stream from the VTP, which will share views of the asteroid from the Bellatrix Astronomical Observatory in Ceccano, Italy. The stream will begin on June 27 at 4:00 PM ET, with the approach expected to take place 15 minutes later.
You may also be able to see the asteroid in the night sky with a decent telescope. It will be at its brightest on June 28 and 29 and should be visible from the Northern Hemisphere when you know where should you look. At its brightest, it will have a similar brightness to Proxima Centauri – the closest known star to the Sun, according to VTP.
2011 UL21 won’t come this close to Earth again until 2089, when the space rock will come within 1.7 million miles of our planet – more than two and a half times closer to us than the current approach, according to JPL simulations .
There is zero chance that a known planet-killing asteroid will collide with Earth for at least the next 1000 years. However, there will be some close calls with smaller asteroids in the coming years. For example, the asteroid Apophis, which is big enough to wipe out an entire city, will do that zoom past Earth closer than some satellites in 2029.