A mountain-sized asteroid nicknamed the “planet killer” will make its closest approach to Earth in over a century on Thursday.
The asteroid, officially known as Asteroid (415029) 2011 UL21, will pass by Earth just after 9pm BST (4pm ET) on 27 June, travelling at nearly 26 kilometres per second.
Nasa has classified the rock as a “potentially hazardous asteroid”, though it poses no danger to Earth for at least the next thousand years. According to the open-source project Space Reference, the asteroid is “comparable in size to Mount Everest” and will make a much closer approach in 2089.
A free live stream of the space rock will be available on the website of the Virtual Telescope Project at 9pm BST on Thursday, showing the view from the Bellatrix Astronomical Observatory in Ceccano, Italy.
The asteroid will also be visible through a regular telscope on the nights of 28 and 29 June, when it appears at its brightest.
“Asteroid (415029) 2011 UL21 will fly past Earth on 27 June, at 20:14 UTC (22:14 CEST),” the European Space Agency noted in an alert.
“At 2310 m across, it is larger than 99 per cent of all known near-Earth objects (NEOs), but it poses no risk to Earth and will pass by more than 17 times as far away as the Moon.”
It is one of two near-Earth asteroids set to pass us by this week, with the newly discovered Asteroid 2024 MK set to whizz by on 29 June.
This second asteroid is slightly smaller, measuring between 122 and 256 metres in diameter, though it will pass much closer than the first.
Astronomers first spotted Asteroid 2024 MK on 16 June, 2024, calculating that it will pass at 77 per cent the distance of the Moon to the Earth.
Dr. Thomas Hughes is a UK-based scientist and science communicator who makes complex topics accessible to readers. His articles explore breakthroughs in various scientific disciplines, from space exploration to cutting-edge research.
