Watch or participate in asteroid 1998 QE2 flyby today

Asteroid 1998 QE2 will pass about 15 times the moon’s distance. Several organizations are looking at it, and you can join the fun.


Today – May 31, 2013 – a 1.7-mile-long asteroid called 1998 QE2 will sail safely past Earth at a distance of about 3.6 million miles (5.8 million kilometers). That’s about 15 times the moon’s distance. This object is not a hazardous asteroid, and the May 31 asteroid flyby is safe. Closest approach happens today at 1:59 p.m. Pacific (4:59 p.m. Eastern / 20:59 UTC). This is the closest approach the asteroid will make to Earth for at least the next two centuries. NASA is already watching with its Goldstone radar telescope and has invited the public to online and television events that began yesterday (May 30) and continue today. Experts are discussing NASA’s asteroid initiative and showing real-time images of the May 31 Earth flyby of asteroid 1998 QE2. Plus the Slooh Space Camera will try to capture the asteroid as it sweeps past. Details on how you can participate below.

Asteroid 1998 QE2 will sail past Earth on May 31, 2013, getting no closer than about 3.6 million miles (5.8 million kilometers), or about 15 times the distance between Earth and the moon.




Slooh May 31 at 1:30 p.m. PDT / 4:30 p.m. EDT / 20:30 UTC. Slooh Space Camera will cover 1998 QE2′s closest approach from its observatories in the Canary Islands, off the coast of west Africa. Viewers can watch live on their PC/Mac or by downloading a free Slooh iPad app in the iTunes store and touching the broadcast icon. Click here for Slooh’s schedule and more details. NASA at Space.com beginning at 1:30 EDT / 20:30 UTC. Space.com is hosting NASA ustream live on its site beginning 1:30 EDT. Go here to watch on Space.com. May 31 at 2-3 p.m. EDT / 1800-1900 UTC. NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, former astronaut Ed Lu, and Bill Nye the Science Guy will discuss all things asteroid in a White House “We the Geeks” Google+ Hangout. The hangout can be viewed at the White House website, here: https://plus.google.com/+whitehouse/posts As NASA peered at the asteroid via radar this week, it discovered that 1998 QE2 does not travel alone in space. Instead, this object has a moon. See the video below, and watch as the moon moves in orbit around the asteroid. An asteroid with a moon is said to be a binary asteroid. Read more about 1998 QE2′s moon here.

source and credit a earthsky