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A " potentially hazardous " asteroid the size of a football arena will zoom past our planet in the former time of day tomorrow morning ( Dec. 4 ) — and you may keep an eye on it survive .
The mammoth infinite rock , which is travel at more or less 27,500 miles per hour ( 44,300 km per hour ) , will reach a minimum distance of 1.37 million miles ( 2.2 million kilometers ) from Earth at 0:27 ET — its closest approach to our planet on record , consort toNASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory ( JPL ) .
The “potentially hazardous” asteroid is roughly the size of a football stadium.
The historical flyby can be watched via afree livestreamfrom the Virtual Telescope Project ( VTP ) which starts at 13:30 ET today ( Dec. 3 ) . 2020 XR will also be seeable to8 inch ( 20 centimeter ) telescope , according to a statement by theEuropean Space Agency(ESA ) .
Asteroid 2020 XR is classified byNASAas anear Earth objective , or NEO , meaning that its orbit sometimes brings it within 1.3 astronomical units ( AU ) of the sun — equivalent to 1.3 time the average distance between the sun and Earth .
Any NEOs that approach within 4,650,000 nautical mile ( 7,500,000 km ) of Earth and are larger than 500 foot ( 150 meters ) in diameter are view to be"potentially hazardous . “However , the flyby on Dec. 4 does not nonplus any threat to our planet .
tie in : NASA ’s most require : The 5 most serious asteroids to Earth
" When stargazer first discovered 2020 XR , they thought it had a small probability of impacting Earth in 2028,“Juan Luis Cano , coordinator of the ESA ’s Near - Earth Object Coordination Center , allege in the command . " But by going back and bump the asteroid in older information , they were capable to refine its trajectory and rule out any hazard . "
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The asteroid measures approximately 1,200 feet ( 366 meter ) in diameter , create itlarge enough to wipe out a small urban center .
The space rock last approach Earth in December 1977 — before it was attain . However , at the time , its minimal distance was roughly 10 million mile ( 16 million km ) further away than what is expect during tonight ’s encounter , JPL estimates .
2020 XR is not expected to approach this close again until at least the yr 2196 . It is next prognosis to fly past our planet in November 2028 . However , the minimal distance will be much further away , at an estimated 11.3 million naut mi ( 18.2 million km ) .
