Huge Asteroid to Pass Earth: Watch Online

Huge Asteroid to Pass Earth Tonight: How to Watch Online

by Mike Wall, SPACE.com Senior Writer

Date: 11 December 2012 Time: 07:00 AM ET

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Computer-generated views of asteroid 4179 Toutatis, constructed using radar observations from NASA's Goldstone Observatory in California. CREDIT: NASA View full size image

A giant asteroid will make a flyby of Earth over the next few days, and armchair astronomers can watch the action live on their computers.

The near-Earth asteroid 4179 Toutatis, which is about 3 miles (5 kilometers) wide, will zoom within 4.3 million miles (7 million kilometers) of Earth during its closest approach early Wednesday morning (Dec. 12). That's too far away to pose any impact threat on this pass, but close enough to put on a pretty good show through top-notch telescopes, researchers say.

And some of those scopes will be tracking Toutatis' movements for the benefit of skywatchers around the world. The online Slooh Space Camera and Virtual Telescope Project, for example, will both stream live, free footage of the asteroid from professional-quality observatories.

More - Link >>> http://www.space.com/18843-asteroid-toutatis-flyby-webcasts.html

Asteroid Web-cast Coverage --

Slooh Space Camera: Link >>> http://events.slooh.com/
Tuesday: 3:00 p.m & 10:00 p.m. EST

Virtual Telescope Project: Link >>> http://www.virtualtelescope.eu/webtv/
Thursday: 3:00 p.m. EST

Source: Space.com .

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