The large asteroid Apophis will safely pass by Earth tonight (October 16), and at least two astronomy broadcast organizations are planning live webcasts of the flyby.
While personal telescopes with a diameter of fewer than 12 inches may struggle to view Apophis on Friday, the Slooh internet observatory and the Virtual Telescope Project are planning separate webcasts. The broadcasts will not only talk about the flyby in 2021 but also about a considerably closer flyby in 2029, when Apophis would pass within 19,000 miles (31,000 kilometers) of Earth, passing closer than certain high-altitude satellites.
Apophis will be roughly 44 times as far away as the moon during tonight’s considerably less spectacular flyby. The asteroid will be more than 10.2 million miles (16.4 million kilometers) from Earth during its closest approach.
The near-Earth asteroid, which is about 1,000 feet (300 meters) large and was found in 2004, had a small possibility of colliding with Earth in 2029, but that was ruled out when scientists revised its orbit, according to NASA’s website.
