Watch a House-Sized Asteroid Pass Close to Earth Tonight (October 11/12)

By Nancy Atkinson - October 11, 2017 06:21 PM UTC | Planetary Science

On Oct. 12, a house-size asteroid will pass quite close to Earth – only 26,000 miles (42,000 kilometers) away. This is just above the orbital altitude of communications satellites and a little over one-tenth the distance to the Moon. But not to fear, it has no chance of hitting Earth.

[caption width="630" align="alignnone"]

Artists concept of Asteroid 2012 TC4's close pass of Earth on Oct. 12, 2017. Based on continuing observations, scientists have determined that it will pass the Earth at a distance of about 26,000 miles (42,000 kilometers). Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech[/caption]

Asteroid 2012 TC4 was discovered almost 4 years ago to the day, on October 4, 2012, just a week before it made another close pass by Earth.

With a little more advance notice this time around, NASA and asteroid trackers around the world are using the close pass to test their ability to operate as a coordinated International Asteroid Warning Network. This is a growing global observing network to communicate and coordinate their optical and radar observations in a real scenario.

"Asteroid trackers are using this flyby to test the worldwide asteroid detection and tracking network, assessing our capability to work together in response to finding a potential real asteroid-impact threat," said Michael Kelley, program scientist and NASA lead for the TC4 observation campaign.

You can read more details about the observing campaign in our previous article.

You can watch it pass by too, if you have a at least an 8 inch telescope, according to our David Dickinson, who has a

very informative post about 2012 TC4 at Sky & Telescope.

Closest approach will be at on October 12, 2017, at 5:41 Universal Time (1:41 a.m. EDT).

You can also watch a couple of webcasts of the pass:

Virtual Telescope will have a live feed

, and the

Slooh Telescope crew will also host a live feed starting tonight at 8 pm EDT on Oct. 11

.

2012 TC4 is estimated to be 45 to 100 feet (15 to 30 meters) in size.

NASA's Asteroid Watch

says that no asteroid currently known is predicted to impact Earth for at least the next 100 years.

More info at NASA's website.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com