Huge asteroid (887) ‘Alinda’ has made its closest approach towards Earth in decades and is about to peak in brightness in a rare once-in-a-decade event.
The event can be observed this weekend from home with basic stargazing binoculars or in a free livestream, reported Live Science.
The near-Earth asteroid named as (887) Alinda measures an estimated 2.6 miles (4.2 kilometres) wide — roughly the width of Manhattan, according to Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Moreover, the chunky space rock made its closest approach to Earth on Wednesday in decades, swooping to within 7.6 million miles (12.3 million km) of our planet, or about 32 times the average distance between Earth and the Moon.
It is important to note that Alinda isn’t predicted to make another close approach to Earth until 2087.
Its large size also makes it a great target for curious stargazers while an asteroid this big could trigger a mass extinction event if it were to collide with Earth.
Alinda will peak in brightness at a magnitude of 9.4 on Sunday. The asteroid will be visible moving through the constellation Gemini.
