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We don’t take a close look at 2020 SW, but this illustration from NASA shows what an asteroid looks like in space.
NASA / JPL / Caltech
Asteroids pass by Earth all the time, but you don’t have much of a chance to witness them live online as they fly by.
The school bus-sized asteroid 2020 SW, which was just discovered on Friday, will pass Earth on Thursday, September 24, but you can watch its approach to our planet via a live broadcast from the Virtual Telescope Project on Wednesday, September 23. starts at 3 pm PT.
The most important thing is that the asteroid will pass quickly and continue on its merry way.
In a year filled with exciting nearby asteroid approaches, 2020 SW is going to get pretty cozy. According to NASA, it is expected to be about 13,000 miles (22,000 kilometers) from the Earth’s surface. That’s closer to what television satellites usually orbit.
While Close approaches to asteroids may trigger alarmist headlines, there is no need to worry about this last encounter. For comparison, Asteroid 2020 QG made one of the closest shaves on record earlier this year, approaching about 4,350 miles (7,000 kilometers) from our planet.
“There are a lot of tiny asteroids like this one, and several of them come as close to our planet as this several times a year,” said Paul Chodas, director of the Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at the NASA Jet Propulsion. Laboratory said in a statement Tuesday.
Asteroid 2020 SW is quite delicate, measuring between 15 and 30 feet (5 to 10 meters) wide. The fact that we receive a week’s notice of your arrival is a good sign that our asteroid detection systems are working well.
So tune in and say hello before 2020 SW says goodbye. The asteroid won’t be in our neighborhood again until 2041.
The next fun The asteroid timing to watch out for will come just before the US election, when the 2018 VP1 tiny asteroid hugs Earth.. That won’t mark doomsday either. Even if it enters our atmosphere, it will simply disintegrate.
