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A massive asteroid, spanning more than two miles across, has just made its closest approach to Earth in decades – but its spectacle isn’t over yet.
The asteroid, named (887) Alinda, will reach peak brightness this weekend in a rare celestial event that can be observed with basic binoculars or through a free livestream.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory estimates Alinda to be roughly 2.6 miles wide, comparable in width to Manhattan. On 8 January, it came within 7.6 million miles of Earth, roughly 32 times the average distance between Earth and the Moon. The next time it will pass this close again will be in 2087.
While an asteroid of this size could cause catastrophic damage if it were to collide with Earth, Alinda poses no threat. Instead, its size makes it an ideal target for amateur astronomers.
On Sunday, the asteroid will reach a peak brightness of magnitude 9.4, which is too faint for the naked eye but visible through entry-level binoculars or a backyard telescope, according to Gianluca Masi, an astronomer with the Virtual Telescope Project.
Alinda will be visible in the constellation Gemini, which appears in the Northern Hemisphere just after dark and remains visible throughout the night, skywatching expert Jamie Carter said.
The Virtual Telescope Project is also hosting a free livestream of Alinda’s flyby at 12:30 pm EST via its official YouTube page.
Events of this scale are uncommon. According to Mr Masi, only a handful of asteroids this large will pass within 15 million kilometers (9.3 million miles) of Earth before the year 2200.
NASA has confirmed that neither Alinda nor any other known asteroid poses a threat to Earth for at least the next century.
