Asteroid to fly by Earth in rare 'near approach' this weekend

dailyrecord.co.uk:

An asteroid will whizz past Earth this weekend in an exciting 'near approach' which will be live streamed.The asteroid, which a space expert has dubbed a 'city killer', has no chance of hitting earth - but may be close enough to view with the right equipment.

Known as '2023 DZ2', the space rock is set to make a clean pass by our planet at around 7.50pm on Saturday, March 25, speeding at more than 17,000mph.As reported by the Mirror Online, it will pass at a distance of almost 110,000 miles from our planet which is close enough to be officially classified as a 'near-Earth object'.European Space Agency’s planetary defence chief, Richard Moissl, said in a statement: "There is no chance of this 'city killer' striking Earth, but its close approach offers a great opportunity for observations."Anybody in the Northern Hemisphere might be able to see the asteroid - provided they have access to a six-inch telescope.Thankfully, you'll also be able to watch the flyby from the comfort of your own living room as there is an ongoing live stream of the asteroid's approach.

2023 DZ2 was first discovered just a few weeks ago, on February 27, and was first announced to the public on March 16.If the asteroid were to hit Earth - which it won't - it would have produced a massive upper atmosphere air burst, which would be equivalent to 214 times the impact on Nagasaki after the Fat Man bomb in 1945.Near-Earth Objects - or NEOs - are relatively common, despite the scary-sounding name and aren't actually that 'near' in many instances.

In fact, they can be incredibly far away from Earth.NASA explains: "As they orbit the Sun, NEOs can occasionally approach close to Earth.