Potentially Hazardous Asteroid 2020 XR close encounter: an image – 30 Nov. 2024.
We release a new image of the Potentially Hazardous Asteroid 2020 XR, ready to have a close, but obviously safe encounter with the Earth next 4 Dec., coming as close as 2.2 millions of km from us.
Potentially Hazardous Asteroid 2020 XR: 30 Nov. 2024.
The image above comes from a single 120-second exposure, remotely taken with the “Elena” (PlaneWave 17″ + Paramount MEII + SBIG STL-6303E) robotic unit available as part of the Virtual Telescope Project. The telescope tracked the apparent motion of the asteroid, so it looks like a sharp dot of light, while stars leave trails.
At the imaging time, asteroid 2020 XR was at about 4.3 million of km from us and safely approaching.
This 450-meter large asteroid will reach its minimum distance (about 2.2 millions of km, 5.7 times the average lunar distance) from us on 4 Dec. 2024, at 05:27 UTC (source: Nasa/JPL). Of course, there are no risks at all for our planet.
We will show 2020 XR live, in real-time, almost at its minimum distance from us and at its brightest, while still visible from the Northern hemisphere!
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