Large asteroid to zip by Earth Saturday morning

A large asteroid will be zipping by Earth on the early morning hours of June 27.

If you are up in the eastern timezone, Asteroid NC1 will be making its closest approach to Earth at 7:14AM low in the western sky. Those with a decent size telescope, at least 6″, may be able to pick the asteroid out against the background sky. It will appear as a 10th magnitude star, but even checking every 5 minutes will show that faint dot move against the background stars.

Astroid 1997 NC1 is roughly 0.5-1 mile across and will pass safely about 1.6 million miles away with zero chance of impacting Earth. It will make closest approach in the constellation Ophiuchus just below the bright star Rasalhague.

Locally, this will place it low in the western sky. It will be a challenging object to spot, but seasoned astronomers should be able to pick it out.

1997 NC1 makes somewhat consistent trips by Earth, but it won’t be any threat to impact for at least the next 100 years.