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(CNN) – An asteroid estimated 1.2 miles wide will fly through Earth early Wednesday morning, but is not expected to collide with our planet.
The asteroid is called 52768 (1998 OR2), and was first seen in 1998. On April 29, it will pass 3,908,791 miles from Earth, moving at 19,461 miles per hour. That is still 16 times farther than the distance from Earth to the moon.
The flyby is expected to occur at 5:56 a.m. ET, according to NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies. The center tracks near-Earth objects, or NEOs, that could collide with Earth. They have been tracking this particular asteroid for 20 years, according to NASA.
You can watch it live on The Virtual Telescope website. Gianluca Masi, founder and scientific director of The Virtual Telescope in Italy, has been tracking and imagining it for some time.
If it hit Earth, the asteroid is “big enough to cause global effects,” according to NASA, when the asteroid was discovered.
And if an asteroid could be aware of such things, it appears to be wearing a face mask in deference to the pandemic, according to new images from the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.
“Small-scale topographic features, such as hills and ridges at one end of the 1998 OR2 asteroid, are scientifically fascinating,” said Anne Virkki, head of planetary radar at the Arecibo Observatory, in a statement. “But since we’re all thinking about Covid-19, these features make it seem like OR2 1998 remembers wearing a mask.”
The Arecibo Observatory is a National Science Foundation facility managed by the University of Central Florida. A team of experts has been monitoring this near-Earth asteroid, among others. The observatory is supported by NASA’s Near-Earth Object Observation Program and has been analyzing asteroids since the mid-1990s.
During the pandemic, Arecibo scientists continue to make their observations on behalf of planetary defense. In line with social distancing, they have limited the number of scientists and radar operators at the facility, and wear masks during observations.
The asteroid was classified as a potentially dangerous object because it measures more than 500 feet and is 5 million miles from Earth’s orbit. Arecibo experts can monitor asteroids and use observations to determine their future path to see if they pose a risk to Earth.
“Radar measurements allow us to know more precisely where the asteroid will be in the future, including its future approaches to Earth,” Flaviane Venditti, a research scientist at the observatory, said in a statement. “In 2079, the 1998 asteroid OR2 will pass Earth about 3.5 times closer than this year, so it is important to know its orbit accurately.”
It is the largest asteroid expected to fly across Earth in the next two months, but it is not the largest ever.
That honor belongs to asteroid 3122 Florence (1981 ET3), which flew past and fortunately did not collide with Earth on September 1, 2017. It will make another pass again on September 2, 2057. That asteroid is estimated to have between two and one half and five and a half miles wide.
This story was first published on CNN.com, “This giant asteroid will fly through Earth on Wednesday, close enough to be seen with a telescope, but experts say it won’t hit us.”
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