'Lost' asteroid to whiz past Earth at half moon's distance on Tuesday, here's how you can watch it
An asteroid the size of Statue of Liberty will whiz past the Earth at 6 pm ET on May 15.
Asteroid 2010 WC9 will pass the Earth at half the distance to the moon in one of the closest approaches for an asteroid of this size, according to a report by Globalnews.
The asteroid was first discovered eight years ago by Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona. However, not long after the discovery, the asteroid was 'lost' as it went out of the sight.
On the eighth of this month, the asteroid was located again and it was close enough for astronomers to be able to study its orbit.
A report from the EarthSky states that the asteroid is not big in terms of astronomical standards and that it was moving at a speed of 46,116 kilometers per hour.
This asteroid is much smaller than the Chelyabinsk meteor that entered Earth's atmosphere over Russia in February 2013 and broke windows in six Russian cities. The explosion created panic among local residents, and about 1,500 people were injured seriously enough to seek medical treatment.
Asteroid 2010 WC9 will be close enough to be seen from a small telescope. Northolt Branch Observatories in London will stream the phenomenon live on their website.
The last know asteroid impact was in 1908 when Tunguska meteor broke up over Siberia destroying over 90 million trees in the forest. The explosion from the impact was thought to be more powerful than an atom bomb.
Tunguska is classified as an impact event even though no impact crater has been found. The meteor is thought to have disintegrated at an altitude of 5 to 10 kilometres, according to Wikipedia.