Later today, June 14, at about 23:10 UTC, a large and very bright near-Earth object (NEO) will fly past our planet a safe distance away. Astronomers report that there is no chance of the space rock hitting us.
Dubbed 2012 LZ1, the asteroid was discovered fairly recently. The view above was snapped by experts Nick Howes, Ernesto Guido and Giovanni Sostero, all from the Remanzacco Observatory, yesterday, June 13,
Universe Today reports.
At the point of closest approach, the space rock will be some 5.3 million kilometers (3.35 million miles) away from Earth. However, due to its brightness, the Slooh Observatory will attempt to host a webcast of this unexpected flyby.
2012 LZ1 is very large for an NEO. Astronomers estimate that the object is around 502 meters (1,650 feet) wide, which means that it could potentially wreak havoc on Earth, were it to be on a different course.
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