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Look Up and Watch a 1.1-km Asteroid Fly Past Earth Today – Here's How - SciTechDaily
Jan 18, 2022 1 min, 41 secs
We have such a chance coming right up on the evening of Tuesday, January 18th, when 1.1-kilometer asteroid (7482) 1994 PC1 passes 1.23 million miles (1.98 million kilometers) from the Earth.

The asteroid was discovered on the night of August 9th, 1994 by astronomer Robert McNaught observing from the Siding Spring Observatory.

This week’s pass is the closest for the asteroid since January 17, 1933 (pre-discovery) at 0.00752 AU, and the closest for the next two centuries, although the pass on January 18, 2105 is nearly as close, at 0.01556 AU.

At its closest on the night of January 18th at 21:51 Universal Time (UT), 1994 PC1 will be straddling on the Cetus/Pisces border and moving at a blistering 2 degrees an hour (spanning a section of sky four times the size of tonight’s Full Moon, per hour) or 2 arc minutes a minute.

I remember the thrill of seeing asteroid 4179 Toutatis on its close pass in 2004.

The good news is, you could have started hunting for 1994 PC1 last night: the asteroid is still a respectable +12th magnitude plus on either evening before or after closest approach, January 17th or January 19th.

The path of the asteroid for the last 12 hours of January 17th.

Credit: Starry Night.

The night of Monday, January 17th finds asteroid 1994 PC1 low to the south at dusk on the border of the southern hemisphere constellations of Fornax and Eridanus.

The 24 hour path of asteroid 1994 PC1 for January 18th, in one hour increments.

Credit: Starry Night.

The key night of Tuesday, January 18th sees the asteroid making its closest pass by Earth for this century.

Standing on the surface of the asteroid Tuesday night, you’d see the Earth as a 22’ half-full disk, slightly smaller than a Full Moon.

Once such opportunity occurs in the hours around 21:05 UT Tuesday night, when 1994 PC1 passes 43’ from the +3.8 magnitude star Alrescha (Alpha Piscium).

Credit: Starry Night.

Wednesday night January 19th sees the asteroid much farther north in the constellation Andromeda.

The celestial path of asteroid 1994 PC1 through Wednesday, January 19th.

Credit: Starry Night.

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