Get quick , Earthlings . There ’s a 5 - kilometer ( 3 Roman mile ) wide-eyed space rockabout to zipper past our planetthis weekend .
Asteroid 3200 Phaethon will make its close approach path on Saturday December 16 at 5:30 pm EST ( get through here to convert thatto your time zone ) . alas , you wo n’t be capable to see the asteroid with the naked eye . However , even a backyard scope should be able to pick it up with a bit of know - how . If you ’ve got a computerized telescope , you catch a glimpse of it by shoot for between HIP2113 and a magnitude 9 star , agree toNASA Earth Sky .
Phaethon is the third orotund near - Earth asteroidclassifiedasa " Potentially Hazardous Asteroid " but there ’s no need to worry about it . The stone will skim past Earth from a distance of 10.3 million kilometers ( 6.4 million nautical mile ) away . That ’s around 27 times the distance between the Earth and Moon , so compensate no paying attention to the headlines tell you it ’s threatening Armageddon just before Christmas .
Even so , this is still pretty close in space - term . It is the closest encounter with this asteroid since 1974 and until 2093 , meaning it ’s a prime opportunity for astronomists to study this flying outer space rock .
" This will be the undecomposed opportunity to date for radiolocation observations of this asteroid and we hope to obtain elaborated images , " saidNASA .
" The images should be first-class for obtaining a detailed 3D framework . "
If – with additional stress on the totally hypothetical " if " – the asteroid did hit our planet , or any planet for that affair , Boston University astronomy professor Michael Mendillo toldTIMEthat 3200 Phaethon would be a potential candidate . It " would be this type of object that would cause a catastrophic collision , should there be one , " he suppose .
Phaethon , only discovered in 1983 , is diagnose after the son of the Greek sun god Helios due to its close coming to our Sun . If you were favorable enough to witness theGeminid meteor showerearlier this week , these shooting stars actually come from rubble go out by 3200 Phaethon . That ’s why this asteroid is sometimes touch on to as " the mother of all Geminids . "
Asteroids do n’t typically behave like this , so some uranologist fence it is not actually an asteroid at all but , in fact , a dead comet or perhaps just a comet that ’s breaking apart .
