![]() Join us on Tuesday, April 28th, starting at 7 PM EDT for our second members' star party!
Other timezones: 4 PM PDT ¦ 23:00UTC ¦ 4:30 AM IST
We will be watching the gargantuan Near-Earth Asteroid "1998 OR2" on the night it makes its closest approach to Earth!
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
This is the second in a new series of Star Parties where members can join the fun and participate in Slooh's livestreams!
Zoom Event Details:
Topic: Humongous Near-Earth Asteroid Star Party
Time: Apr 28, 2020 7 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Zoom Meeting URL
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6972191016
ABOUT NEA 1998 OR2
Near-Earth Asteroid 1998 OR2 is colossal - radar observations last week confirmed it is 2 kilometres in diameter (that's 1.2 miles across).
There's no chance of it impacting Earth as it whizzes by at a distance of 6,290,365 kilometres (3,908,651 miles) - but that is a mere stone's throw in astronomical terms - especially for a space rock of this size!
Because of its size, and how close it can get to Earth, it is also classified as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid. On this approach, it's close enough for large radio telescopes to observe it, so we now know its size and shape with a high degree of accuracy.
We'll be using the Canary Two 17" Wide-Field telescope and the new Chile Two Planewave CDK17 Wide-Field telescope to capture the asteroid! |
