Near-Earth Asteroid (887) Alinda close encounter: online observation – 8 & 12 Jan. 2025
On 8 Jan., the near-Earth asteroid (887) Alinda will have a relatively close (and obviously safe) close encounter with our planet, coming as close as 12.3 million of kilometers, 32X the average lunar distance (source: JPL/Nasa). This is a big object, with an estimated diameter of 4.2 km. We will show it live.
Near-Earth asteroid (887) Alinda: poster of the event.
Because of its size and the relative close fly-by, this asteroid will be brighter than mag. 10 for the next ten days. Right now it is as bright as mag. 9.7 and will peak at mag. 9.4 on 12 Jan. A similar event happens on average once a decade. Considering all the asteroids coming closer than 15 million of kilometers, Alinda is one of the five largest ones in size from now until 2200.
In other words, for more than one week, the near-Earth asteroid (887) Alinda will be easy to see with very modest equipment, like entry level, 10×50 binoculars, particularly from the Northern hemisphere, in the Orion and Gemini constellations.
The Virtual Telescope Project will cover its fly-by with two live feeds:
– 8 Jan. 2025, starting at 20:30 UTC, a few hours after it reached the minimum distance from us;
– 12 Jan.2025, starting at 17:30 UTC, when it will peak in brightness.
To join the (887) Alinda live feeds, you just need to enter, at the dates and times above, our webTV page here!
Please wait while you are redirected...or Click Here if you do not want to wait.Support The Virtual Telescope Project!
Support us! Please, donate and receive an EXCLUSIVE image of the stunning COMET C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS and much more, specifically made for supporters like you!
