The large asteroid Apophis will pass safely to Earth tonight (March 5) and plan at least two astronomical broadcasting services to showcase the pilots in live webcasts.
While personal telescopes are smaller than 12 inches in diameter will try to see Apophis On Friday, the Slooh Online Observatory and the Virtual Telescope Project are planning separate webcasts for the event. The broadcasts will not only discuss the 2021 flight, but will also generate interest for a much closer pace in 2029, when Apophis will travel within 31,000 kilometers of Earth and be closer than some high satellites.
During tonight’s much less dramatic flight, Apophis will stay about 44 times as far as the moon. At its closest point, the asteroid will be more than 16.4 million kilometers from Earth.
The near-Earth asteroid is about 300 meters wide and was discovered in 2004; while initial early estimates said there was little chance it would crash on Earth in 2029, it was ruled out after scientists refined its orbit NASA said on its website.
Related: Scientists prepare for their last good look at asteroid Apophis before 2029
Slooh will broadcast live views of Apophis on its membership website Slooh.com from Friday at 20:00 EST (Saturday at 01:00 GMT). The show features images of Apophis from Slooh’s remote-controlled observatories in Chile and the Canary Islands. A free 7-day trial is available here.
Members can also locate the asteroid itself through the Canary Islands and Chile telescopes a few hours before the broadcast, Slooh’s chief astronomer Paul Cox told Space.com.
“We’ll be watching Apophis most of the night,” Cox said in an email. “I’ll be hosting the live star party, and our guests are Bob Berman and Dr. Mike Shaw. Earth asteroid has been going since 2008. “
Slooh also plans to discuss an upcoming members’ course on locating objects near Earth and submissions to the International Astronomical Union Minor Planet Center, which is responsible for designating small objects of the solar system, Cox said.
The launch of the Virtual Telescope Project, with robotic telescope observation capabilities near Rome, begins Friday at 7:00 PM EST (Saturday, March 6, 0000 GMT) on this site.
“By far the most well-known potentially dangerous asteroid, 99942 Apophis, will have a relatively close approach to Earth,” founder Gianluca Masi said in a statement on the broadcast website. “While we’re waiting for the record setting of 2029, we’ll share this upcoming event with you, so join us and see it live from your convenience.”
On Friday’s passing flight, Apophis as closes as 0.11 astronomical units to the earth, or about 44 times the distance between the earth and the moon. While Apophis poses no immediate threat to Earth, NASA and its Planetary Defense Coordination Office examine the sky regularly using a network of partner telescopes. NASA has a mandate from the US Congress to look for potentially dangerous asteroids, and so far the agency and its partners have found nothing that is of immediate concern to the inhabitants of the earth.
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