100-Foot Asteroid to Flyby Earth Next Month

In March, an Asteroid may pass so close to Earth, you’ll be able to see it with a regular telescope.

An asteroid isn’t something particularly special itself; large numbers of them fly past Earth each year. And unless you have the kind of expensive tech that NASA has at its fingertips, you have no way of observing them. However, this March, Asteroid 2013 TX68 may pass close enough that you’ll be able to see it pass without working for a space agency.

While its name sounds like a droid out of Star Wars, TX68 may potentially come within 11,000 miles; closer to Earth than the moon is.

March 5 #asteroid Earth-flyby: no threat, but exactly how close will it get? – https://t.co/HSjiGswI4s #2013TX68 pic.twitter.com/XnU6LznuFV

— Scott Sutherland (@ScottWx_TWN) February 3, 2016

 

Or it might not come anywhere near. NASA is not entirely sure what path it will take due to not tracking it for very long on its previous flyby. NASA’S website explains;

“During the upcoming March 5 flyby, asteroid 2013 TX68 could fly past Earth as far out as 9 million miles (14 million kilometers) or as close as 11,000 miles (17,000 kilometers). The variation in possible closest approach distances is due to the wide range of possible trajectories for this object since it was tracked for only a short time after discovery.”

Fortunately for any nervous types, there is apparently no chance that Asteroid 2013 TX68 will hit Earth.

This year anyway…