Astronomers tracking close-passing asteroid 2017 VR12 (earthsky.org)
By Deborah Byrd in Space | February 17, 2018
2017 VR12 will pass closest to Earth – 3.76 times the moon’s distance – during the night of March 6-7. It’s a good target for radar, and amateur astronomers might catch it with small telescopes.
Astronomers have been following a space rock labeled 2017 VR12, discovered a few months ago. It’s due to pass safely by Earth at 3.76 times the moon’s distance on March 7. Because of its relatively large size, this asteroid is a very good radar target for professional astronomers, and amateur astronomers will be able to pick up this asteroid with their backyard telescopes (see charts below).
Asteroid 2017 VR12 is estimated to be between 820 to 919 feet (250-280 meters) in diameter. That’s in contrast to 65 feet (20 meters) for the space rock that came closer and exploded in the atmosphere over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, five years ago. And it’s in contrast to an estimated 150 feet (46 meters) for the space rock that caused a .75-mile-wide (1.2-km-wide) crater near Flagstaff, Arizona some 50,000 years ago.
Asteroid 2017 VR12 offers no risk to Earth this time, however. It’ll be 3.76 lunar-distances away at its closest approach to Earth on March 7, 2018 at around 07:53 UTC (2:53 a.m. EST; translate UTC to your time). According to NASA data, the space rock will pass even closer to the moon around that date, still with no risk.
Calculations show this space rock will come no closer for at least the next 177 years than it will be on March 7.
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more: http://earthsky.org/space/asteroid-2017-vr12-closest-march-6-7-2018
