It ’s a Christmas miracle – albeit potentially hazardous and slightly late .
A Brobdingnagian asteroid is set to safely pass by Earth in the former hours of December 26 , just as Santa start clock in for his holidays . The space rock – labeled310442 ( 2000 CH59)–is expect to make its closest approach to Earth at around 07:54 UTC , according to NASA’sCenter for Near Earth Object Studies(CNEOS ) .
310442 ( 2000 CH59 ) is gauge to be up to 620 time ( 2,034 feet ) in diameter – grandiloquent than the One World Trade Center in New York City . Despitesome newspapersclaiming it ’s a “ slayer Christmas space rock ” , do n’t expect the asteroid to ruin your holiday . Zooming passed at over 12 klick ( 7.4 miles ) per secondly , the asteroid is expect to be 7,180,697 kilometers ( 0.048 astronomical unit ) away from Earth at its closest approach , around 19 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon .
This might sound like a Hades of a long - distance in human terms , but it ’s close enough to be called a “ potentially hazardous ” near - Earth object underthe definition of CNEOS .
" At closest , CH59 will be about 19 times farther than the moon . Over many centuries and millennia [ these asteroids ] might evolve into solid ground - get over orbits , " Paul Chodas , conductor of the CNEOS , toldNewsweek . " So it is prudent to keep tracking [ them ] for decades to come and to hit the books how their orbital cavity might be evolving . "
With a luminosity of around 19.9 downright magnitude , the asteroid wo n’t be seeable to the naked eye . The brightness ( and , therefore , the visibleness ) of an asteroid in our sky depends on its size , distance , and reflection . This reflectivity can be determined by a turn of factors , admit its shape and chemical composition . Although it ’s comparatively close and large for a near - Earth object , it wo n’t be seeable with most commercially available ocular telescopes either .
Like a pair of astronomical fireworks deeply in the dark sky , the end of the decade will also be celebrated with two other asteroid around New Year ’s eve – one on December 31 at 05:04 UTC and another on January 1 at around 16:08 .
