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19 March 2024

Watch 'live': Asteroid Pitbull zip past earth

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Published
By Vicky Kapur

Mother Earth is experiencing a close call right now as an asteroid discovered only a few days ago is expected to miss it by a rather short distance, astronomically speaking.

“The space rock will zip by our planet approximately 25,000 miles above our heads – one-tenth the distance between here and the moon,” says Dubai Astronomy Group (DAG).

Termed super Near-Earth Asteroid 2014 RC, which has been nicknamed ‘Pitbull’ due to its small size of 95 feet (29m) and scary demeanour, is currently making its unexpected close approach to Earth.

According to experts at the DAG, the asteroid is approximately 60 feet in diametre, and will pass closest to Earth on Sunday at 10:18pm UAE time (2:18pm EDT).

“Based on current calculations, astronomers suspect it will be over New Zealand at the time,” says DAG. While the asteroid will be too small to see with the naked eye, it might be possible for sky watchers to catch a glimpse with small telescopes.

What makes this one interesting is that while 2014 RC will not impact Earth, its orbit will bring it back to our planet’s neighbourhood in the future. The asteroid’s future motion will be closely monitored, but no future threatening Earth encounters have been identified, says Nasa.

You can watch a ‘live’ feed of the bus-sized asteroid zip past earth here

The asteroid was in fact discovered just days ago, on the night of August 31 by the Catalina Sky Survey, and independently detected the next night by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope, located on the summit of Haleakal on Maui, Hawaii.

Nasa maintains that, at the time of closest approach, 2014 RC will be approximately one-tenth the distance from the centre of Earth to the moon, or about 25,000 miles (40,000 kilometres). The asteroid’s apparent magnitude at that time will be about 11.5, rendering it unobservable to the unaided eye. However, amateur astronomers with small telescopes might glimpse the fast-moving appearance of this near-Earth asteroid.

“The asteroid will pass below Earth and the geosynchronous ring of communications and weather satellites orbiting about 22,000 miles (36,000 kilometres) above our planet’s surface,” says Nasa. “While this celestial object does not appear to pose any threat to Earth or satellites, its close approach creates a unique opportunity for researchers to observe and learn more about asteroids.”