Asteroid 1999 KW4 To Make Its Closest Approach To Earth On May 25
A huge asteroid called 1999 KW4 is set to make its closest approach to Earth at a distance of about 3 million miles on May 25, 2019 (Saturday).
A binary asteroid system with its own mini Moon would have a close encounter with earth this weekend. Asteroid 1999 KW4 is consisting of large space rock measuring about 1.3 kilometers wide with a small companion orbiting on it.
The asteroid was expected to breeze safely within 3,216,271 miles from Earth although it has been classified as potentially hazardous.
The European Space Agency said that they were already tracking the pair ahead before its close approach to the planet.
“The goal is to put observatories and telescopes to the test, to become aware of what kind of information can be collected on short notice in case of a future close approach of a possibly threatening asteroid,” ESA said.
The LINEAR collaboration using the Goldstone and Arecibo observatories initially discovered the huge asteroid on May 20, 1999.
The mile-wide asteroid could be best viewed from the southern hemisphere but the people in the northern hemisphere could also see it two days later using a telescope.
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