Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — A huge asteroid will fly near our home planet Monday night, and Earthlings can watch it live online.
The asteroid 2000 EM26 is 1,000 feet across and is considered near-Earth by scientists, though it will pass at 8.8 lunar distances from our world. Six lunar distances is considered a safe distance by scientists.
This asteroid is “astronomically significant” but there’s “not a prayer” people will be able to see it from Earth without the aid of a very sensitive telescope, said Seth Jarvis, director of the Clark Planetarium.
The 27,000 mph passing can be viewed on both space.com and slooh.com.
Scientists are always watching asteroid activity, Jarvis said, and the rocks are of great scientific and practical interest, due to their potential threat.
Almost exactly one year ago, a space rock exploded above Chelyabinsk, Russia, injuring more than 1,000 people and damaging as many buildings.
