A Large Asteroid To Pass By Earth

NASA announced on January 14 2015, that they expect a large asteroid to safely pass by the earth on January 26 2015. The asteroid, dubbed 2004 BL86 will pass by the earth at a distance of 745,000 miles or about 3 times the distance between the earth and the moon. 2004 BL86's pass by will be the closest of any large object of its size until the appearance of asteroid 1999 AN10 which is expected to pass by the earth in 2027.

Although asteroid 2004 BL86 is about 1,800 feet, or a third of a mile in diameter, NASA has reassured us that it will pose no threat to the earth. Astronomers will be using dish antennas at NASA's Deep Space Network in Goldstone, California and Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico to track the asteroid. Astronomers at JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratories) hope to use the fly by to get their first detailed images of 2004 BL86, as not much is known about the asteroid.

Those wishing to get a glimpse of 2004 BL86 can do so with either a small telescope or a pair of large binoculars, while looking at the constellation Cancer on January 26th 2015.  The asteroid will have a magnitude of 9, which is about the brightness of a faint star using a telescope with an aperture of 10 centimeters. Those using large binoculars are encouraged to use a steady mount. Maximum brightness is estimated to occur between 11:07 and 11:52 pm.