By 
December 9th, 2022
Image credit: ESA
The European Space Agency is looking for an observational assist.
An asteroid is approaching Earth, and to celebrate the release of ESA’s new asteroid toolkit they are calling on amateur astronomers to find the space rock.
No worries here. This Christmas asteroid, 2015 RN35, poses no threat, but like many middle-sized space rocks out there, trackers just don’t know that much about it.
According to an ESA statement, 2015 RN35 will make a safe close approach of Earth at 08:12 UTC (09:12 CET) on December 15, zooming past our planet at 679,800 kilometers – that’s just 1.8 lunar distances measured from Earth.
Observers in the Southern hemisphere will get the best view during close approach, but Europe will get a chance over the following days until about December 19.
Telescopes 30 centimeters and larger should be able to detect this Christmas asteroid and ESA is looking forward to seeing any observations from well-equipped skywatchers.
Use the hashtag #ESAChristmasAsteroid on social media to share your results, which will be shared at @esaoperations channel.
Posted in Space News
