The size of a city block, and you can watch it live on the Web.
A huge asteroid that astronomers compared to the size of a city block will reportedly zip by so close to Earth tonight that skygazers should be able to witness it live on the web.
The giant space rock, dubbed 2012 LZ1, is roughly 502 metres wide, and will come within 14 “lunar distances” — a measurement of the distance from the Earth to the moon — from our planet.
At such a distance, the team running the high-powered Slooh Space Camera telescope predicts the asteroid will be visible on a live online feed from the Canary Islands. The broadcast of the flyby will be available on Slooh’s website starting at 8 p.m. ET, though it won’t be detectable by the naked eye.
The celestial event only caught the attention of astronomers days ago,
– “Huge asteroid to pass near Earth tonight”, CBC News, June 14, 2012