Watch asteroid 2012 DA14 flyby LIVE

[LongTomH]

Asteroid 2012 DA14 passes by Earth at 19:24 UTC (1:25 CST / 2:25 EST) today. Close, but no cigar; it should miss by several thousand miles. Dr. Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy site has links to places where you can watch online:

Happily, though, several observatories will be broadcasting live shots of the asteroid as it passes. I have a list below. But first, I want to reiterate that this rock will miss us, it poses no threat now or in the near-to-middling future, and that in fact this is a good thing. We get practice observing a small rock and getting a better orbit characterization for it, and it also raises public awareness that these suckers are out there and a potential threat.

Dr. Plait will be doing his own Google+ hangout:

First, I will be doing a live video Hangout on Google+ starting at 19:00 UTC (14:00 Eastern US time) where I’ll talk about this asteroid, the danger of impacts, and take questions from y’all. I won’t have the URL until the Hangout actually starts, but when I do I’ll post it in my G+ stream, as well as on Twitter and Facebook. I should be able to feed in the live streams listed below as well as pictures as they come in, so you can come watch and ask me questions live. In fact, I’ll embed the video here so you can simply watch it all right here on the blog.

More info here: http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/02/15/asteroid_2012_da14_watch_it_live_as_it_passes_earth.html

Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy site is also a good place for info and updates on the huge meteor seen and heard over Russia this morning.

[malthaussen]

1. Time to dust off the ol' copy of Lucifer's Hammer. n/t